Okay you guys, get ready for some serious testimony here. TL;DR at the bottom ~~~ I've always had a knack for speaking and presenting myself. It's what I'm good at. As a performer in theater, orchestra, choir, and various solo works, I've come to find ways to place myself in various circumstances and have it work out for me. I had figured this out very early in my life, driving me to manipulate those around me to get what I want. Many males wanted to pick fights and show off, but I was clever, I could talk someone else into fighting for me, and still receive credit. Oh, I climbed that ladder, and I fell all the way down. High School was a lot more unforgiving. People were more cynical, and most everyone had trust issues (since it was a school for the gifted, having no more than 200 students). But because it was a talent-based school, I got to finesse what 'art' I had started. Faking emotions, reading faces like books, it was underhanded power at its finest. I BS'd my way through relationships and life in general. Sure I got hurt in the process, but it didn't much matter. Then I got to college, where I could blend into thousands of people. My craft didn't work. The more people I hurt, the harder I would get hurt later, and I got to hate it. I stopped smoking (a habit I picked up at my first job, but later put down), and I started to find a way to redeem what I had left. On the night in which I considered to be my last, someone dared me to watch the first episode of season 1. Suffice it to say, I now use the Elements of Harmony as a code to live by. The nostalgia of having a lesson at the end of each show (You 90's kids remember Sonic X, don't lie), and the joy that all the resolution brought seriously turned my life around. Now I'm a professional musician with a legitimate career. Each time I'm feeling down, I always look to MLP to brighten my spirits. I use the same Elements of Harmony guideline to help other people, and it has yet to fail. Ponydom saved my life, and the community helped. ~~~ TL;DR a lot