All my life I’ve been the girl with the “lazy” eye. The one kids made fun of because I was different. Picked last for teams in gym or at recess because I was cross eyed. Throughout elementary school I’d come home crying because I was the kid no one wanted to play with, then one day in 3rd grade I finally had enough of the bullying at recess, so I asked my teacher if I could stay in and read, or work on something because I didn’t want to be made fun of. Fasting forward to middle school, It got a little better other than the fact that I could barely see so the picking on, changed from my “lazy” eye to being a teacher’s pet, because I always had to sit in the front of the room.

Little did anyone know that I had a rare eye disorder called Duane Syndrome that limits the movement of my left eye, meaning I don't have the ability to look to the outside. As I got older the comments other people made became irrelevant, because the remarks they said reflected more about who they were rather than who I was.

Then halfway through my 8th grade year, I moved. On my first day of school I thought to myself, “great a new school with 3 times as many students, cant wait to see what people can say about me here.” Thankfully my boyfriend at the time went to the school I moved too so he could show me around, and even though some kids still made fun of my eye the positive things out weighed the bad. Moving to a new school was scary, because my eye was the first thing that people noticed about me, but the things said were; “whoa that's so cool” or “can you do that again?”

Some asked me if there was anyway to fix it. There is a surgery, but that surgery cost about $2,000-$4,000. Most cases don’t have to have the surgery, and we aren’t sure quite yet if I’m one who qualifies for the surgery.

Since I have gotten glasses, my eye isn’t as noticeable, which I'm thankful for. My eye doesn’t affect me when it comes to chasing my dreams.

The mean comments I received growing up, only made me stronger, and work harder at achieving my goals.

If you are ever bullied and feel like you have no one to talk to, do not hesitate to message me on Facebook or Twitter. You are not alone. I do not care if I know you or not I’m willing to listen.