Three years...

One Direction during X Factor

Today is the three year anniversary of One Direction's
inception. The inception that shook an entire generation of girls who began the long, arduous process of being in love with five European boys who have no idea they exist. That may sound dramatic, and altogether over-the-top but since they've come into my life I haven't found much of a need to turn around.

Before everyone starts, I'll let you know this; I'm twenty years old. I was around for the Backstreet Boys. I remember the 90s hysteria and granted I was only five or six when I saw them in concert, I acted no different than when I saw One Direction a few weeks ago. They have changed my life, and while I know everyone says that, I'm being 100% honest when I say that if they hadn't come into my life a year ago, I don't know where I'd be.

Another complaint I'm sure I'll get is that I'm not a "real" fan because I haven't been around since the beginning, however, being a "real" fan doesn't mean you must've been there since the beginning, it means you care enough to sit down and listen to their music, and love them because of who they are and what they sing not because it's popular.

I'm not a front-runner or someone who came into the circle because it was cool (because believe me, being twenty and being obsessed with One Direction isn't cool), I had been in a situation where boy bands weren't exactly my number one priority. When college happens, you're overwhelmed and when you become overwhelmed a lot of what you once held in high esteem, stuff that makes you happy kind of falls to the wayside (not for most people, but for me).

Red Nose Day... awww.

When I had to take a semester off for some mental issues (long story), I was defeated, empty, alone and unsure what my next move was. Being depressed isn't easy for anyone, it's dark and sometimes seems endless. I look back on it and wonder how I survived it because when all you want to do is lay in bed and when no one is really saying to you "don't do that! It's bad!" you don't really have a reason not to do it. So I spent a lot of my lost semester sleeping or on the computer.

I found One Direction one day and from then on things were different. Don't get me wrong, I don't credit them for making me better or being the only reason I got over my depression and anxiety but believe me, they're one of the pieces of the puzzle I really needed.

I saw five normal boys who went on X Factor, accompanied by their parents and friends and family and lived a normal life with the exception of the fact they were talented. I watched videos from the beginning of their career, before they were even One Direction, before they knew each other and I watched as the five of them became One Direction, excelled in X Factor and then thrived in the real world. All the while, I didn't notice a difference in any of them. They've remained humble, and exactly the way they should be and that's what makes me love them.

Looking at the way they act onstage. They don't care if people laugh at them, they want to have fun. They're people like you and me, they rebel, they make mistakes and that's what makes me love them. They don't walk around acting like they're better than everyone they do what they love to do and don't bother with the bullshit.

When things, like the Liam incident (which I don't know fully about because I was knee deep in Calculus work that week) happen and I see that people think he's not grateful, I have to laugh. People are rude, and look at them as toys, things that don't have feelings and those are the people that should be ashamed of themselves. Disturbing them when they work so hard, and invading their privacy, it's something people should look at as awful. It's not fair to them, they're five boys who we all know are grateful to us. Stop, pushing it. Because in the end we've watched them grow and become people we admire because they're not jaded, but doing what people do, like disturbing them when they're tired is what will make them jaded and resentful. People can only take so much, even five "superheroes" who do everything they can to make people happy.

Everyone should be grateful for One Direction. Not because of what they've provided for us fans but because they've proven that you can still be the same person three years later, after your life has been turned upside down.

Congratulations Zayn, Liam, Harry, Louis and Niall. You've made it possible for everybody to not only fall in love with you, but prove that you haven't accomplished anything until you've accomplished the true art of humbleness and unwillingness to let bullshit and fame get to your head.

When I saw them two weeks ago. So faraway!

I'm so proud to call myself a Directioner.

Thank you.

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