Alec Smith

July 11, 2022

Growing up, I was raised to believe that anything is possible with hard work and a positive attitude. As a society, we’re raised to believe a lot of things and are constantly having expectations placed on us, but life doesn’t always turn out the way you plan it’s going to when you’re younger. Life comes with struggles, challenges and obstacles, but those struggles don’t have to define you. 

As a kid, I always believed being gay was an obstacle. Something I could hide from, something I could work around, something I didn’t want to accept about myself. It wasn’t easy knowing that I was different, especially while trying to live up to someone else’s definition of me.

Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself. 

I still believe that anything is possible with hard work and a positive attitude, but have learned along the way that you can’t let anyone or anything else in life determine who you are as a person. I’m still constantly learning and growing, just like we all are, but I’ve accepted and am proud of who I am. I won’t let my struggles define me. 

That’s why #IAMNOBULL.