'' Never fear opposition: a kite rises highest when it goes against the wind. ''

Sometimes, when I look back at pictures of me as a kid, tears stream down my face.
I think they represent both tears of joy and tears of sadness.
Tears of joy because I still have the soft soul I had as a children, even though I have been through (sorry I had to) '' hell and back'' .
They used to call me the '' little angel'' , and despite the fact that I broke my wings along the way, I managed to find the way to fly again.
Tears of sadness because I look at mini me and just want to hug her so tightly.
I was so gentle as a kid, and even if I was kind, I still got the worst out of some people, and I wish things didn’t have to be that way.
In spite of everything, I am extremely proud of the person that I became.
I’ve been through a lot, but I didn’t allow the cruelty of life to destroy the softness inside of me.

Be true to you.
Such an empowering statement that I tried to carry the best I could, especially during my teenage years.
If there’s one person that comes to mind when I think of staying true to myself, it’s Eminem, who was my favorite rapper for as long as I can remember.
The song '' Beautiful'' never made it out of my Ipod’s playlist.
Even though I would listen to it on repeat, the shivers I’d feel would never go away.

'' They can all get fucked. Just stay true to you so''

And here’s the verse that’d give me the most shivers:

'' But you have to walk a thousand miles
In my shoes, just to see
What it'd be like, to be me
I'll be you, let's trade shoes
Just to see what I'd be like to
Feel your pain, you feel mine
Go inside each other's mind
Just to see what we find
Look at shit through each other's eyes''

I just felt understood.
I knew that there were some people out there who just get it.
He was so real, in a world so fake, and I loved it.
I loved it because that was how I wanted to be one day.
Authentic. Real. Even if nobody was watching.
Because at least I’d know that I stayed true to myself.

There’s a genius inside each one of us.
And once we realize what is our '' thing'' , we can spend the rest of our lives working on it.
It all starts with a vision.
I’m a big believer that there’s a reason as to why each one of us is on this planet.
The question is about finding what it is.

What are you living for?

Once you have found the answer to this fundamental question, you can start filling your calendar with ways to accomplish your life mission.
And even if you can’t see the finish line, it shouldn’t matter.
It should not stop you to jump head first into the water, and get where you picture yourself to be.
Whether that is in 1, 5, 10, 20 years from now.
It all starts with the day you decided to start.
Roadblocks will happen, you’ll eat shit, you’ll feel like giving up, but you’ll always got to find reasons not to quit. You never have to lose sight of the Why you are doing it.
And most of all, you have to remain yourself, no matter what people might say to you.
Because if in your heart, you feel it, and you know you’re good, that’s all that matters at the end of the day.
Don’t change for anyone in the world.
And if you do change, do it for yourself.
All the '' successful'' people in the world (or whatever you want to call them -because I’m not a huge fan of the word '' success'' ) have been told that they were up to no good.
That they should quit.
That their ideas were wrong/impossible/stupid. Name it.

But they made it through as they understood one fundamental principle:

that mastery is all about believing in yourself.

Life isn’t a formula.
We’re all different people, and we will all leave the legacy we choose to leave, when our life ends.
Mine is to leave this world into a better place than when I entered it.

I want to thank the person who inspired me to write this publication.
A person I’ve always greeted with kindness, and that always rejected me with anger.
A person that have spent its lifetime to seek for human perfection, while it is a quest with no finish line, as perfection does not exist.
One day, I will prove you wrong.

I do what I do, according to my own timeline.
And my only rival, if I ever were to have one, would be myself.
It does not matter to me how you choose to perceive me, through your own distorted glasses, because I live my life through my perception, my style, my sensibility, and that is all that is important to me.

I want to address this post to all of the other humans out there who have been told they were not '' enough'' .
That they were not going to make it.
I am here today to remind you that you are enough, simply as you are.
And I hope that you ignore the mean remarks, or if you take them into account, that you use them as fuel to transform your vision into reality.
That it will motivate you to work harder to prove them wrong.
You are worthy.
Don’t stifle your growth.
You were made to bloom. 🌹
'' No one is you babe, and that is your power'' ! ✪ 🌠