Hello. I am a quiet person. Bullied by my aunts, cousins, and the children in school, I always assumed that I was unlovable and invisible. So I became quiet. When people tried to speak with me, I jammed up and couldn't get out a proper sentence. To deal with things, I turned to art. 

Art as a medium, is one of the most important tools of the human soul. It has the ability to talk and make us feel without saying a word. It tells us something about ourselves, as an individual and as a race of human beings. 

This year I turned 18, and became an 'adult', as if the passage into the adult world is at all controlled by age, I started to seriously think about my place in the world, as a human being. That same thought, that I had no place, kept creeping back. But finally, when college is looming around the corner, when I have royally messed everything up and feel like I am going nowhere, I finally understand. 

Life is fucking tough. I made it through my 18 years because of my art, and because I believe in a world that is painfully real, but exciting. When no one else would listen, my art listened and it spoke. Art is projecting the human soul to a person who needs it. Therefore every human being is an artist at heart. Your story has touched and inspired me. And I'd like to pass that on now. 

In short, keep strong, speak out, try art. 

Some reading and viewing suggestions: 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Freedom Writers (the book is brilliant), The Heidi Chronicles (a play), and Therumpus.net if you are old enough