Blinded by:Gabby Stiles

I believe that how one deals with tragedy reveals their truest character. There is a truth deep down inside our hearts, but we’re too afraid to let it show. We instead decide to box it up and hide the truth so far away that it’s no longer noticeable.

For a chunk of my life I was physically abused. I became so used to it that I didn’t truly understand it was wrong. Until a time when my best friend started to notice the bruises. Them constantly appearing. It took me years of abuse to just notice the mistreatment. How corrupted other's actions were toward me. I acted so carelessly that I blinded myself. I blocked out everything I didn’t want to think or to believe of society.

I placed myself in a box. Only letting in what my immature little self chose. It destroyed me. It made me oblivious to reality. I chose to hide from what was being done to me. I allowed it to continue tearing apart my life.

Right in front of my closed little eyes.

Until it clicked.

My eyes were opened. Flooding my mind with: fear, shame, disgust. Overshadowed by reality.

The truth hits hard. Knocking everything out, and being replaced with the reality of tragedy. I began to see who I was. An immature little kid refusing to take responsibility of her own life. I only cared about the “now me”. Not then or there, but now and only now.

When I realized what my life had been, I decided that I didn’t want “that me”. I wanted to be someone who wasn’t afraid. Who wasn’t blinded. I’ve used it to push myself to grow. To mature. To understand and to see. To define myself not with tragedy itself, but to stop hiding my truth away. To be defined by my reality. To open my box.