My name is Alison! I'm 19 years old, currently a freshman at BYU-Idaho. I play Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, and Uncharted. I love Yu-Gi-Oh, specifically Arc-V. I like to play the piano, write fanfictions and my novel, bake, and be with animals.
Kingdom Hearts is my life. I've been with the series for a little under two years now. It has taught me so much and it actually came to me when I really needed it in life, pulling me out of depression and helping me love myself for who I am.
My mom doesn't like who I am as a person, so a few years ago she prohibited me from my video games and writing to make me "grow up" and "live in the real world". Over the years I lost my sense of self as I tried out different personalities to try pleasing her, to no avail, because acting how she wanted cut back on our fighting. But I wasn't happy, and I wasn't myself. I felt like a robot, living life without vigor and just making it through each day in hopes that things would get better. I was numb. I put up walls around my heart to avoid being hurt. I grew painfully shy and scared of social interaction, in part because of the verbal abuse my father went through. I just wanted to be invisible and left alone. I didn't have friends in high school, and I even lost my connection to certain happier emotions. I was very depressed with low self-esteem, and I never felt truly alive. On top of all these issues I struggled with school because I was unknowingly fighting a strong case of ADD, which I got diagnosed with only a week ago. The bad grades made me feel even worse about myself.
I found KH through my only friend when I was 17, and I played it at his house all the time. It brought me joy, and through different characters I literally relearned certain emotions I hadn't been feeling lately. It thawed my heart. Kingdom Hearts helped unearth my true personality again, and it taught me to be who I am and not be manipulated. I recently started defending myself to my parents and openly embracing who I am. My mom still hates that I'm a gamer (she has an irrational hatred of video games) but I know how to properly defend myself now, and our fights over my personality don't affect me much anymore. Now that I'm at college, I get to be who I truly am, and I've never been happier. I freely play Kingdom Hearts all the time now. I write, watch Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V, and draw--all things I haven't been able to freely do in life before January of this year when I came to college. I'm the happiest I've ever been since age 10, when my brother's death caused my parents to turn crazy.
It's a long post, so I'm sorry. It's my inner writer shining through. I really love sharing my KH story because it shows how powerful the series can be. I have such an emotional connection to it. Like Ventus, I lost a part of my heart earlier in life, only I lost my light. Kingdom Hearts helped me regain that light.
I look forward to meeting all of you in this community. Here's a picture of me if any of you are curious! https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AlisonClaires/posts/JXgbWLNKisB?pid=6168612384327951778&oid=104074699720359062779