Let me just place a scenario in your head. There’s a girl and a guy. The girl has done something new with her appearance, lets say she dyed her hair from blond to a light brown, and she loves it. The guy, lets say it’s her dad, tells her she needs to cover it up. He constantly tells her how she shouldn’t show it all of the time, and it needs to be changed. He is always making remarks on the way she looks, telling her the same things.

This is me and my dad. It may not be the hair dye, but it’s like that no matter what I do. Especially my tattoo. My psychiatrist agrees with me that it’s not that big of a deal, and most people in my generation will have tattoos. My parents say that I should be ashamed about my appearance. Okay, they don’t actually come out and say it, but saying things about me needing to cover up my tattoo, or not telling people that I go to therapy, just makes me so frustrated. They’re basically trying to get me to hide the parts of my life that are out of the norm, or that make me unique.

I can’t handle it. I can’t just hide who I am. I’m sorry mom and dad, I’m not ashamed of who I am. I realize that you may want me to be the “perfect daughter” but news flash, that doesn’t exist. I try the best I can, but I still need to be a little different from the crowd; just think about how happy you’ll be if I’m in a car accident and my face is maimed, and the only way I can be identified is through my tattoos. At least you’ll be able to know where I am at, and that it’s me.

I just feel like parents are supposed to make you feel comfortable about who you are, and not make you feel self-conscious about yourself. I want to be able to say, “Hello, I’m Maddy, and I’m sexxxaaay.” Okay, not really. But it would be nice, for once, if I could just feel comfortable with myself, and be okay with meeting new people. If my parents didn’t push me down so much, it could be entirely possible that my life would be Crazy Good. Or at least a little bit better.