Everyone sees you in a different way.

Sometimes I imagine how a policeman might describe me. An Asian girl with long black hair and brown eyes. Average height and medium build. But that's not how I define me.

What about my college? They know me as student 0646225. Class of 2020. Nursing major. Graduated from Niles West High School. Involved in clubs. Living on campus. Maintaining a good GPA. But that's not how I define me either.

If I were to walk into a doctor's office, they might say I am 5ft 5in. An 18 years old female taking meds for depression and society anxiety. Overall healthy and never broken a single bone. But that is not how I define me.

I am not defined by the color of my hair or the shape of my eyes. I am not defined by my ACT score or any score for that matter. I am not defined by my height, weight, or mental disorders. I am not defined by my strengths and weaknesses that I tell an employer during an interview. I am not defined by others. I am not my mother, nor my father. I am simply me.

I define myself as Amber. I am my dreams of traveling the world and my aspirations to learn more about it. I am my embarrassing trips up the stairs when no one is looking. I am my accomplishments, big or small. I am my desire to become a better person. I am the seven year old girl who rode her bike straight into a tree. I am the nine year old girl playing piano and the fourteen year old girl who began to dance. I am the trees I loved to climb. I am the sick to my stomach laughter with my friends. I am my triumphs as much as I am my struggles. I am every paper cut and scrape and every time I got back up. I am all of this and so much more- more than the few scratches taken on the surface, only for those to see who actually care to dig deep. I am an ocean of emotions and a symphony of thoughts which don't always move together, pulling me in different directions. I am a silent forest, but a loud one too because sometimes I choose to rustle in the wind rather than let it pass me. I am a thinker, a lover, and a partially opened book. That is how I define me.