Hi, my name is Alyssa Griffin. I'm seventeen and I live in Tennessee. To be honest, I'm not sure what to say about myself. I've never been a social butterfly like my mother and grandmother. I'm not carefree and outgoing. I would rather spend my time reading, writing, or listening to music. In fact, if you were to put me in a room full of people and tell me to make friends, I would probably stand there looking around unable to form a coherent sentence. I'm not overly pretty either but I think that if I was a cabbage in the grocery store, I wouldn't be the last one to be picked. I have a very, very complicated and crazy family and there just isn't enough time nor space to delve into that story. But all in all, I'm okay I think. Sure I don't have an extravagant life nor do I have a whole list of adventures. But what I do have is stories. Stories that will make you laugh and cry. Stories that can inspire you and build you up. That is what I do. I listen to people as they tell their story because most of the time, that's all we want. We all want someone to just listen to us. Not talk, not interrupt, but to listen, truly listen to us. No judging. I listen as people tell me what their lives were like and their childhood and then I go home and write about my own because I can't fully explain mine to people. How do you? How can you tell someone what you have been through in life and have them fully understand the emotions and feelings you had. It's why some people write songs and others sing them. It's why some write, like myself, and others read hoping to escape their present to look for hope in the future. We just want to be heard. I'm not perfect by no means, but I listen to those who want to talk and I will be honest with you. I have practically no social life, and I don't have the strongest spiritual life either. Despite my many flaws, I have a family that I love, a brother whom I adore, and passions that I hope to one day follow. I could spend this time going on and on about how life has just been a gigantic bully but I would rather talk about dreams. I hope to be an author one day. Whether I make it big or don't, I don't care. I just want someone to read my book and love the story and the characters. I want to sweep someone from reality and have them live through the characters. I want to play the violin and the piano. I want to learn Spanish, German, and French. I know that the possibility of me actually doing this is slim but I'm hopeful. I want to spend the night in an ice igloo hotel and have a beautiful home one day where I can just be myself. This is my life, and It has taken me this long to realize that I can do with it whatever I want. With a little patience, hope, and determination, I can do anything. So I'm going to keep getting up when life pushes me down and keep in mind that the harder the journey, the more beautiful the scenery will be when you reach the top.