"Believe in yourself and you will be unstoppable"

Throughout my entire life, I have always had a fire in my belly. I have always felt deeply and been filled with passion. This has been taken as me being dramatic, which results in people blowing me off. But between having a brother with autism and having celiac it has caused me to be incredibly aware and empathetic towards others. I also have a really intense understanding of history in the way that people relate to one another...and that it tends to repeat itself. So when I am able to in a sense predict the future of how things will go with a person, usually everyone's go to cheap shot line is to say that I'm dramatic, that I'm young and neurotic. So I don't know any better.

In Berlin every you look you are smacked in the fact being reminded of the worst parts of history. Everywhere you look can be a potential trigger. For me, Berlin was incredibly triggering in reminding me of all the times I was able to see ahead for someones behavior and I was blown off and made to feel crazy. But also in Berlin, I was able to put a word to it: gaslighting.

In Berlin, I was able to get the the perspective that age has no correlation with intelligence or empathy. You either have it or you don't. You either have the confidence to embrace it or you don't. Just because someone doesn't like what you have to say and uses your age as a cheap shot to make you second guess yourself, doesn't make it true.

Berlin, much like last time, was a time for me to really delve deep and think about the state of the world as well as the state of myself. I was able to take the negative and make it into a positive of I am a smart, empathetic, caring young woman that deserves better than the older people in her life talking down to her because they themselves have no confidence. I am no longer going to take it when people try to blow me off and tell me I'm dramatic. I am going to start figuring out how to stick to my guns and believe in myself. Because that's what I deserve.