So this is going to be quite a long post so if you dont want to read then I guess don’t.
This is a message to you @taylorswift. I know you won’t see this - but it doesn’t matter. I want to write this to say thank you to you. You and your music has provided me with a guiding light throughout alot of stormy moments in my life.
Throughout my time in primary and secondary school I was bullied. This happened everyday - it started with just name calling. It progressed into me being tripped over, pushed down the stairs, chased through school in terror of what might happen and being literally dragged by my hair across a playground and shoved into a football net where the boys proceeded to repeatedly kick every ball they could find directly at my face. Even those I thought were my friends ended up leaving me because I wasn’t cool enough. I’ve never even told my parents this but I was so scared and sad during these moments - I didn’t know what I had done wrong, I didn’t understand why it was always me. I wanted so much for it all to stop and just to walk to school without a fear of what I would face when I got there.
Do you wanna know what got me through it? You did Taylor. Your music. Your smile. Your amazing level of caring for everyone. I remember vividly first hearing these 2 lyrics:
1. ‘People throw Rocks at things that shine’
2. 'But we’re getting stronger now, with things they never found. They might be bigger but we’re faster and never scared’.
Listening to inspirational words such as these is what made me get up in the morning and keep going. They are what pushed me to succeed despite the pain.
But then when I came to the end of Year 9, something happened I thought I would never get over. My friend Natalie died from lung cancer less than 1 and a half months before her 13th birthday - the one birthday she had always wanted to experience. It broke my heart because I didn’t get to say goodbye to her - she had been admitted to hospital full-time a week or so prior and I wasn’t allowed to see her as she was too weak.
I didn’t know what to do at this point. I wondered what the point in going on was - I’d already struggled with self confidence and self belief and now one of the most positive influences in my life was gone. It was made even worse because we had been friends mostly outside of school - so no-one in the school, teachers included expected me to be sad. I was teased so much for crying and then when I wanted to go to the funeral the school even tried to stop me!
Thankfully my dad told them I was going anyway cause he could clearly see that this meant alot to me. In the days and weeks following, I struggled alot. And yet again, I turned to you Taylor. I listened to your songs on repeat. Your speeches. I read your social media posts to fans. I looked at how much you went through with the media and what life through at you and how you kept going.
In recent years, your ability to keep being a caring, genuine, honest and beautiful person with a stunning ability to write songs that speak to people deep down in their hearts still amazes me. Taylor - you are the reason I am still alive today. You are the reason that gradually, I am now making friends I know I can truly trust. You are the reason I am able to smile each day.
I love you so so much. Please never change.
Megan Stagles 💖💖
