"I had a dream last night that changed my life. It's a bit hazy and disjointed, but I can remember almost all of it. I don't think I ever want to forget it.

"Where was I? In this huge space with the sun shining brightly, but it wasn't warm. I was surrounded by green grass up to my ankles, but there were no flowers or trees or anything nearby. I thought it was a bit strange. Then I looked at my hands, and they were covered in this weird black stuff. It felt rubbery, but even though I picked at it constantly I couldn't get it off. My whole body was wrapped up in it, like a second skin or bodysuit or something. I couldn't get out of it, and I felt so scared and breathless, like it was slowing crushing me. I fell to my knees, and all of a sudden there was a flash of lightning on the horizon. Rain poured down, and as I sat there the black stuff started washing away and I could see my skin underneath, only it wasn't my skin.

"Then I wasn't myself anymore, I was just…watching. It was sort of what I imagine it would be like to be a cloud. Anyway, I could see this person on the grass, and even though I knew it was me, it didn't look like me. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, and more and more of the black stuff was pouring onto the grass. Its skin was as pale as egg whites, and strangely wrinkled. It looked small somehow, and scared. I remember that it looked in my direction, and it just looked so, so scared, and in that moment I realized that it just wasn't ready to face the world on its own. The black stuff that had covered it was like armor, protecting it from itself. From its own identity – from who it really was, who it wanted to be. That tiny, pathetic figure had hidden inside this body, trying so desperately to not have to grow, to not be rejected or have to make its own decisions, to not have to really and truly show the world who it was inside. I could feel that tiny figure's fear, and it was so intense.

"It was scared that, because it was different, it would be persecuted somehow. Rejected. Abandoned. It was scared of its own identity, and didn't want to admit to itself who it really was. It knew that its physical form didn't match who it was inside, and it also knew that it wouldn't be accepted by so many people.

"I don't really know what happened after that, it's all a bit hazy. I hugged the thing and told it that everything would be alright, that even though there would be people that wouldn't accept it for who it was, there would be many many people that would. Gradually, it stopped shaking, and we just sat there in the rain-soaked grass for a while. The sun started coming out again, and all of a sudden I felt so warm, so content. All of a sudden I had an epiphany – the creature in my arms was, in fact, who I really am inside, and I had been telling myself exactly what I needed to hear.

"I feel a bit better now, because I know that I can stop pretending to fit in just to please other people. From now on I'll just be myself. It's terrifying and exhilarating, but I feel better than I have in years. I think I'm actually okay with who I am."