It has been over 2 years since I last logged on here and man, what a blast from the past. When I first joined emptyclosets on Christmas Eve of 2016, I was a scared, 15 year old kid who was honestly going through a really terrible time. Now, at 18, I can say things have gotten infinitely better. Since I last posted here on EC I: Got my first girlfriend, went through my first breakup, moved to the US for college, went to my first pride parade (and bawled my eyes out), came out to my mom and my friends (again, bawled my eyes out) and finally, I was loved and accepted for who I am. In fact, I just had a girl I started seeing come over for dinner. No one batted an eye. So many good things have come to me from this experience, it’s hard to summarize it all. But I will say, I wear my rainbow bracelet with pride on the daily. Of course, things aren’t 100% perfect with all my family and some people suck. But hey, it’s life! Nothing is 100% perfect. And while coming back on here and reading the sad, but nonetheless incoherent posts adolescent me made between 2016-17 makes me cringe, the responses I received back then continue to warm my heart. I feel like EC was such a huge part of my growing up. You guys were a family to me, you gave me advice when I had nowhere else to turn, you listened to my frustrations and celebrated the little things with me. For that, I am forever grateful. This forum is a lifeline for so many people. And can I say, opening this old account and seeing that people who barely knew me have been posting on my wall, checking in to see if I was alright... wow. This community is really doing something right. I can’t for certain say what the future holds, but I know this chapter of my life is over. Empty Closets served me well when I needed it most. The fact that I haven’t been on here in 2 years and probably won’t come back here for a long while proves that. In the last 2.5 years, I went from hopeless to the happiest I have ever been. I guess I just wanted to be totally cliche and say thank you to EC and tell you all, it gets better. You might feel so completely wrapped in darkness and it’s easy to get lost in that. Just remember, you have family in places you don’t expect. EC is one of those places. Thank you again, everyone, for being part of my story. Signing off again, be well.
It's absolutely wonderful to read that things have turned out so positively for you and that things are better. You worked long and hard on making things better. Thank you for sharing your inspirational story and I am glad that EC helped along the way.
