When I was young

I thought I could do anything

That I could save the world

I thought life was wonderful

Amazing

In my mind

Everyone was happy

We all grew up to live our dreams

I was going to make a difference

In this world

But times change

As I grew older

And went into school

I had confidence

It didn’t matter that nobody liked me

So long as I liked myself

I found friends

We were the outcasts

Our own clique

We didn’t need anybody else

I felt free to

Be myself

But times change

That’s when I got hurt

My heart had to grow up

Way too fast

Suddenly

Life crashed down on me

Turned everything upside down

I saw how the world truly was

All the hurt

The pain

The lies that tear us apart

And I couldn’t believe nobody was

Doing anything

To change it

If you want to make

A difference in this world

You have to know

And believe with all of your heart

That you can

Do anything

You can be the missing link

The answer the world has been

Searching for all along

You matter to the world

I used to breathe those words in

Every day

I had hope

Confidence

Faith

But times change

That was before the world

Swallowed me whole

It chewed me up and spit me

Back out

I saw death

I saw the end

I always thought

Life was a great place but

Times change and

Now I’m not so sure

Everything’s

Hanging in the balance

Walking through life

Terrified to mess up to

Make a mistake

One wrong move

Could be the end

Of something could

Be the end of you

I know we feel like

We’re stuck in this rut and

We’ll never make it out alive

But I’m telling you this truth that

We will make it

And one day

We’ll look back at this time

And think

Wow

Life was so

Awful back then

But times change

And we’ll all be fine

Back to that time when

We had faith

In ourselves

“For the bird is

Not frightened

When perched upon

The highest branch

Not because it trusts

The branch not to break

But because it

Has faith in its own wings

To catch itself when it falls”

And if we live with

That mindset of

Hope and trust

In ourselves

Then we can be the change

We want to see in the world

We are not our

Grades in school

Or the names we get called

The bruises and

Scars on our skin

Do not define us

The number on the scale

Color of our skin or hair

Amount of friends

Style we wear

None of that matters

If you look in the mirror

And don’t like what you see

That’s okay

As long as your

Heart is in the right place

You are the most beautiful person

Who ever walked this Earth

A lot of people haven’t

Made it this far

But we have

I know it hurts

And I know you just want to fall down

And cry

But we can do this

You may have lost some battles but

We’ll win this war

We will be

Victorious

We’ll make it through this and

Someday we’ll be happy

Someday we’ll be free from all this

Pain and misery

Soon we’ll be okay

I know this life is hard

But just put one foot

In front of the other

Keep your head up

And try

Smile

We’ll make it through this

We’ll all be fine

Take a deep breath

And be glad that

Times change.