Don't Be Affraid To Be "YOU"

 

This is a picture of myself back in 2012. This is a photo from a photo-shoot that me and my band were doing while I was in high school. High school for me was an up and down sort of ride. I really loved my class but I felt like I had all these interest's that I couldn't really relate to other people with. I was SUPER into metal bands and that was my dream to play in a band. I would always sit in my homeroom class and read magazines with all these bands I wish I could play with. I always felt a little weird though because growing up in a small town in Illinois, not a lot of people were really into that kind of stuff. I played sports, was in high school band, and I just never felt fulfilled or like I was doing what I should be. When I was in school people were always excited about football games basketball games, or dances, and I was more excited to go home grab my guitar and just do something that didn't involve coaches, or any type of stress. Guitar became my escape because that's when I felt like I was doing something for me without all the pressures of the real world. Of course, I wore skinny jeans to school, grew my hair out, and tried to fit the part of a metal band kid and thankfully no one really judged me for it. My class was always a pretty close family and although no one understood the whole metal scene, they all stood by and didn't judge me for it which was really refreshing. I even had a really awesome history teacher who was into metal music that would give me CD's to go home and jam to and that to me was pretty sweet. At that point, I became me. I wasn't stressed, I wasn't angry, I was happy because I was being who I wanted to be without worrying about what everyone else thought. Then I finally joined the band of my dreams and everyday after school I was so ready to just go jam and hangout with a group of people that wanted to chase the same dream I wanted to. We had amazing support from our friends and some would even come to our shows. My biggest supporter though was my dear old mom. She was always the one taking me to go get skinny jeans, guitars, and drive to all my shows even though she didn't care for my music too much. Although she didn't understand, she still let me be me and I think that freedom made me feel even more happy about who I was and made me want to stay on a good path in life.





 



 

Here is a picture my mom took from one of my shows. Best part is, I was opening for some of the bands I would read about in homeroom class. I have to say this was one of the best nights of my life because I felt like being myself and focusing got me here. So my advice is to support people for who they are.  Support someone else's dream and encourage them to be themselves because your encouragement might be what they need to keep on dreaming!

 

-Austin