Name: Kesha Rose Sebert
Age: 29
Occupation: Singer, Songwriter
Reason I look up to her: Her talent and ability to write amazing pop songs, her bravery in standing up and against sexual violence.

With an IQ of 140+ Kesha is not only ridiculously creatively talented, but she is also incredibly intelligent. Defying the norm of pop star's bringing in professional songwriters to write their hits, Kesha has writing credits on every single one of her songs, bar the limited edition song "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You", which was written by her mum instead. Having the ability to write incredible pop songs is not one to be sniffed at, and one I wish I had.


Balancing a career with battling an eating disorder, while also dealing with nasties such as Perez Hilton is no easy feat, and one she seeming succeeded in. Her positive force is felt throughout social media, with her Instagram being filled with 'Eff you's' to the people that have brought her down or tried to stifle her voice. She walked the fine line that some people do when discussing mental health or eating disorders, as has been noticed in recent years that some people tend to romanticize mental health or eating disorders, but she managed to bring attention to the issue without making it seem like a trend or something to 'try to have'.

Speaking out about her experience with an abusive person in her life publicly and not being afraid to face all the backlash that is inevitable when a women speaks out about rape or sexual assault is something so important that survivors need to hear. They need to see that it is not their fault and never was and never will be - Kesha is living proof of that.

Hi, I have depression. I have had depression for slightly over a quarter of my life, and as I get older, that fraction is only going to get bigger. I was diagnosed when I was twelve, I am now 16 (very very soon turning 17). Although people talk about mental health and depression in teenagers, I've heard very little about the reality of having had depression for such a big chunk of your life, and how that affects your ability to decipher being a teenager.



Being depressed is kind of odd, especially when you can't really remember not having it. Your normal becomes something so abstract from what everyone else considers normal, you're often left even more confused/depressed because a good day for you, is just a basic day for everyone else. Learning to recognise that my achievements are very, very different to other people my age was definitely difficult to come to terms with considering I'm a perfectionist. So many of my formative years where others are doing sport, or doing their DofE, or getting different qualifications, I was so depressed I basically became housebound for days on end. There are a good few years where I seem to have conveniently forgotten them, I can remember the gist of things, big events like my aunt's wedding ect, but everything else is just blank. Some days it's all I can do to get out of bed, have a shower, eat breakfast and brush my teeth. Some days not even that, and I have to tell myself, 'It's okay, you'll try again tomorrow, and the next day. You'll get better one day'.



This post was prompted by my therapist and my GP, both of whom have repeatedly told me that 'good enough' is good enough. I mean this applies specifically to me, as I really am a perfectionist (kinda comes with the territory of being an aspie), but I think it's also something that every other teenager that suffered depression, or anxiety, or PTSD, or any other neurological/mental illness before they hit the big one three.

Yes, you will be a little later to things in life. For me, I missed a lot of being a typical teenager and yeah it kinda sucks, but at the same time, I've gained so much through having to deal with other issues. Learning the skills to make myself fit into an NT world while also battling depression has made me resilient, more empathetic and kind. I, and you, will come to everything in our own time, and that's nothing to be ashamed of.

Dear RJ,

I don't really know how to start this letter, but I guess saying why I'm thankful would be a good idea. I am thankful because for the first time that I have seen a headline with the word 'autism' in, the story has not been about pity, or coddling, but of admiration and elation. I am thankful because your photos and story will go out to the public and represent us in a way that I don't think has been done before. We are often portrayed as weird, or scary, or any other number of bad things; you however have challenged that and showed that yes, we are different, but we are just as talented, valuable, intelligent, ambitious and able as any NT. I am thankful because you are succeeding in ways that I wish to and ways that I hope I to. I am thankful because although I got emotional reading about your modeling, and your open letter, and reading the experiences that you detail, that I have experienced too, I wasn't angry or upset, I was hopeful that it doesn't always have to be like that.

It is so important that people like you do what you do and show the world that autism is not something to be 'cured', but something to be celebrated, embraced and accounted for.

So, thanks RJ Peete.

A.

Onto possible my favourite on this list. Harry Styles. Pop superstar and newly budding actor, he is worlds away from where he was in 2010. I like to think is his style transformation kind of like a caterpillar. Started of cute and small, and then transformed into a beautifully colour flamboyant butterfly. Okay, so maybe that's another bit of romanticising, but if you read my post about guilty pleasures, you'll know that I quite like 1D so it's natural I'd like them to be themselves right? Seeing the change in not only the clothes (I'll get onto that in a minute) but stage presences is so fun, during the last tour he was dancing round and acting like a mini-rock star, very empowering. Why? Because in a time where gender boundaries are being challenge and at the same time others are fighting hard to keep them, having someone in the public eye and as well know as Harry Styles is like opening the eyes of so many people. If a fan of One Direction (who are normally teenagers) see's a man experimenting with flamboyant actions, colourful and feminine clothes and working long hair (R.I.P), it sends the message that it is 100% okay to express yourself any way you want, it doesn't matter what gender you are, you can do whatever. I think that's pretty awesome.

Also can we just appreciate his collection of boots.




Hope you enjoyed this post, I loved making it! I'm thinking of maybe doing a fashion post based on some of their styles, what do you think? 

Like many other people my age i'm contemplating a gap year. While most of the places listed in this post are distant dreams that are far out of my budget, I would like to hopefully visit at least one of these beautiful countries and towns. So here are my top 12 places I NEED to visit!

1. Groningen - Netherlands