All I Need to Know, I Know from Myself

1. I am Katie MacDowell and I am 17 years old. I am a young adult. I have rights.

2. I have secrets that will be kept secret. I know things about myself that she doesn’t.

3. I don’t need a label.

(i.e. I am not a lesbian…but that would not be anyone’s business anyway. It is solely mine.)

4. I don’t know who I am yet and I am comfortable with that.

5. I can and I do make decisions for myself with little outside influence. They are good, logical right-for-me decisions.

6. I am not a little girl anymore. I am a woman. I possess strength in mind, body and spirit.

7. I hurt back only when I am hurt by others. I will hurt back. I will also hurt in solitary.

8. I have friends who care. I know people in my life who listen and who I can depend on.

9. A daughter and a student are labels and do not define me. They are only traits. They do not dictate my behavior and they do not determine what I do.

10. I do not need to believe in how others see me. I believe in what I know about myself because it is the most important opinion.

11. I can do anything.

12. I have power. I have control. I have myself, which is what no one can take away from me.