3 years of pride

It's been exactly three years today since I decided to tell my big secret. I started telling people that I am bisexual. Or what I really just say is... "Hi my name is Ashley and I happen to be gay!"  I never thought I would ever tell anyone my secret, until one day in a college communications classroom our  Professor asked us all a simple question, "does anyone know the real you?"  I stopped and thought to myself  "No.  No one knows the real me." I was burying it so deep down inside of me that just a few weeks earlier, on my 25th birthday,  I remember staring at my birthday cake and thinking to myself "I can't keep doing this. I can't keep living with this secret anymore - it is literally killing me inside." I had one of two choices to make, either I was going to start telling people who I really was, or I had to end it all and end my suffering. I remember looking at my family members around that birthday cake as they were singing to me and thinking "I can't end my life, they would all wonder why Ashley gave up on life." I knew that I was a strong person, I was Stronger than my own fears that were weighing against me. I knew I had to be a person that I could be proud of. I knew there was a possibility of breaking my family's heart but I had to take that chance. I had to do what was best for me and to live my authentic life.
I have finally been able to look into a mirror and say yes I am proud of what I have accomplished and who I am and I see a girl that is worth while. My reflection is now who I am inside

.