Very early on, I was branded as a "gifted" child and I always felt I had to live up to the expectations attached to this label.

Being my family’s only child and a girl, I soon felt like all I had to offer were my grades and my looks, and I had to excel in both if I wanted to be loved.

The pressure caught up to me in my late teenage years and I have been battling depression and eating disorders for years.

Today, I am angry. Angry my childhood and teenage-hood were robbed off me by adults who wanted to live through me.

After being miserable in a prestigious uni, in a prestigious field, I gave everything I had to finish my undergrad and go into a field I actually love.

I’m going to explore my creativity, my inner child and all the things I had to leave behind.

Maybe I won’t be the best at it but that doesn’t matter in the slightest as I have finally found what makes me happy to be alive.

I don’t want to be gifted, I want to be true, to be humane, to be vulnerable, to live and love.