This is my coming out story.What's yours? Amidst all of our beautiful differences, we're united in the common desire to be the authors of our own story. We all crave the freedom to tell the world who we are, and the confidence to protect what we want. To achieve these things, we also need the conviction to defy permission and the courage to disregard expectation. I've met remarkable people and learned extraordinary lessons on my journey from conformity to authenticity. I've learned that there's freedom on the other side of fear. Every one of us is special and unique and you never need to apologize for who you are. Other people's opinions don't define you and their expectations don't control you. Most importantly, I have learned that we don't need to be fixed just because we're different... because different doesn't mean broken.