Birmingham Pride and LGBT+ Awards

Hello everyone. I hope you’re all having a fabulous day and taking care of yourselves.

Today I wanted to talk about two big things that have happened to me in the past week, and what they meant to me.

BIRMINGHAM PRIDE 2017

Last weekend was Pride in my home city of Birmingham, a chance for all LGBT+ people to be themselves and celebrate their identities in a two-day festival.

I have been the last two years and absolutely loved it both times, but this year, it took on a new meaning for me, for three reasons.

1 – It was my first Pride since coming out as bi earlier this year, so I felt more proud of myself and more safe in my identity than at previous events, during which I was going through the internal conflict of trying to work out who I was.

2 – I had a crisis on the Friday night which brought my mood crashing down at exactly the wrong time. At this point, I could have isolated myself and not gone because of how low I felt. However, I decided to do the opposite and not let what had happened ruin the weekend for me. I still got up both days and went to the events despite the problems I was having. I still met up with friends. I still enjoyed myself because I simply REFUSED to give up and I would not be beaten by it. This inner strength in the face of overwhelming problems is something I am super proud of, and I now see that although I feel weak sometimes, I am in reality far stronger than I realise and can get through ANYTHING.

3 – My friends also played a huge part in getting me through this difficult couple of days. I cannot thank them enough for supporting me and being there when I needed someone to listen. It made me realise just what a huge part of my life you all are and how much I am going to miss you next year when I move on.

AWARDS NIGHT

The second thing I wanted to talk about from this week was the annual awards night for my university’s LGBT+ society. This night is an incredible event where we celebrate our achievements, friendships, and favourite moments of the year.

To be honest, I did not expect to win anything at all, so imagine my surprise when my name was called up to pick up the Student Pride of the year award. I was so overwhelmed and honoured to even be considered let alone win an award. I spent a lot of my conversations after picking it up telling people how amazed I was to win anything at all and that I couldn’t take it in.

But that wasn’t all!

Still in shock at being given the Student Pride award, I was then called up to collect the award for society member of the year later in the night.

Thank you to everyone who nominated me for these awards. I am so humbled that you guys thought me worthy of not one, but TWO awards. Even now, a couple of days later, I am still struggling to take it all in.

This society has been a huge part of my life over the last 5 years. I have met so many wonderful people and done so many fantastic things because of all of you. As well as picking me up during my lows, you have been there to experience the highs alongside me too. You have given me so many amazing memories and I have made friends that I will never ever forget. The confidence I have now is down to this society, and I am still achieving things every day because of what you have done for me. I am who I am today because of you.

Although I am moving on, you will all be in my heart forever.

Thank you for the most incredible five years of my life, and remember to always be the most authentic version of yourself that you can be.

You can follow me on my social media accounts (links are in the sidebar) for updates and news on future posts. Until next time, keep positive, keep smiling, and above all, keep believing!