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A BOY ON THE SHELF

Author: Andrew Gallardo

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9798888107911

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The doctor asked, “Who is Andrew?” I said, “A boy that is tired of staying broken and feeling unloved for who he is.” Why do I go by the name Andrew? Because there was this boy in my first-grade class that I have always seen myself being if I were able to have expressed who I am without humiliation. Everything that he did was something I always admired and was inspired to someday become. I tried my best not to let people define me but rather let myself echo the truest parts of me out for the world to see. I’m the hero of my own story, and I welcome you to my journey—where I have faced many storms along with burning bridges. All the curveballs life has thrown at me had me evaluate my choices. It made me want to show people not to judge a book by its cover. I’ve learned a great deal of patience, but the best thing I’ve learned thus far is to simply keep living and always forgive yourself and understand that you did your very best for what you knew at the time.

Everyone has a story, a story of how they became who they are today. There are some that don’t tell their story, and they just let it rot in their minds. I was almost that someone until I realized, it’s time. I need to make something out of all the negativity that has happened to me. I hope that all I am about to say truly helps someone out there in some way. I know the one thing I needed to hear the most when I was five years old is that “you are not alone.” All the curveballs life has thrown at me had me evaluate my choices. It made me want to show people not to judge a book by its cover. There are people that look at me now and would never imagine the things I went through. I’m the hero of my own story, and I welcome you to my journey—where I have faced many storms along with burning bridges. I’m only twenty-seven years old, and I remember waking up in the mornings drowning in tears with feelings of despair. I had nothing but failure running through my mind, filled with numerous thoughts of never being good enough for anybody let alone myself. Every move that I would make wasn’t meeting anybody’s expectations of what my life “needed to be like” in their eyes. I’ve always felt in the back of my mind that I would have a continuous battle within myself until the day that I die. I had to handle life alone because I know people don’t stay. I was my own motivational speaker, my own greatest cheerleader, and my own best friend. No matter how many people thought and said that I would not make anything of myself, I still moved forward. I evolved the countless number of times life knocked me down. I knew in order to live the life I always imagined myself in, I needed to crawl myself back up—crawl until I was able to stand again. The blood, sweat, and tears that I have drawn to the floor has taught me that only you have your own back, not even your own family. Stick around because the outcome is beautiful, but it truly took a severe storm to get through and see the light at the end of the tunnel.