The title may leave you wondering if this is a leaving thread. Spoiler alert: Nah, it isn't. I just wanted to thank you all. I signed up here back in February 2012 after being referred to SMP3 by my best friend, who asked if I wanted to play Minecraft with him sometime. I logged on that night, and I was going to log off after an hour of waiting for him - but he eventually joined. I expected to leave this place, like I had every other Minecraft server, after about a week. Time went on; he left, I stayed. I got more involved with the community around August 2012 (4 years ago at this point, wow) - becoming a member of the LLO that month, and by November 2012 I owned my own outpost (still standing to this day) and I had just made it onto the highest posting members list. I was helping JackBiggin with some early wiki stuff (I had a very small role though ). I remember my first laptop dying that month too. I lost EMC as an outlet multiple times throughout 2013, and I don't even remember what it was like not having this community in my life. You guys remember April 2016, right? That time of the year that was, what, 4 months ago? I posted a thread back then, detailing my fears and how I felt about my GCSEs - how uneasy and stressed I was over them. I got an outpouring of feedback and support off community members there. And then, the next month... I was... not really there that month. Every week I was being bombarded with exams and speeches about how well I have to do, and I was just demotivated to do anything, and my priority was the entirely wrong thing. I remember walking home on my birthday that month after being kept behind at school for a Maths revision session, in the rain, and I just kind of thought "screw this" and took the long way home. I remember when I missed an exam (which appears to not have bit my ass today) and I came here and just vented. Then in late May and June things picked up. I found my motivation again. I finally went to a college interview. I remember working my ass off (not as much as I should have though, and I should have also started revision waaaaay earlier) for most of that month. And I thought it was all for nothing, and I've vented about that multiple times in the past. I've been in a constant state of panic for the past week. There's been a feeling in my gut that won't go away. I've talked to people here about that stuff - I've written statuses about it. I got into bed last night and thought "I'm going to fail these exams", and I didn't sleep until around 5AM. I woke up at 8 and posted a status about how I thought I was going to fail - in a half-joking way, but I really did believe I wouldn't get results. I got in my mum's car this morning and my favourite song was playing (Somebody Else by The 1975 ), and I was just sat there like "do they really have to make this the soundtrack of my failure?". My mum drove me to my school, and I made her wait by the door - I'd rather not have her see my reaction when I open that slip. I got into the school's library, my head of year smiled at me and handed me my year book and my results and my college enrolment form, and I went over to a table to go look through it. My friend came from behind me and said hi, and then we caught up on things, and he asked me if I was going to open my results. 'Screw it, I can't change what's in there'. I opened them, and it was a weird sensation. My fingers started to shake a little bit, and my body went kind of hot, and my mind was a kerfuffle of different thoughts. I wasn't focusing on anything - partially out of fear, but I saw a 'B' in the corner of my eye, and I knew that - for the first time in a long time, after year of highs and severe lows - my life was going to plan. I remembered coming here and posting about how I knew I was going to do exceedingly bad... and I didn't. I'm extremely happy with what I got (even my F grade in Maths, which is miles better than the Us I've been getting for the past 2 years and what's expected of people with the learning disability I have), and it's given me the boost I need to think that I can do anything I want if I really want it. And I guess I just wanted to say thank you. I saw an 11 year old boy in a year book today who didn't know what EMC was, and he wasn't better for it. I can't imagine what he'd be like nowadays without an amazing community like this one to put up with his dumb thoughts and to - in a way - shape him to what he is now. Oftentimes I don't appear grateful for what we have here, but I really, really am. I can't stress it enough what this place means to me and what a big part it's played in my teenage years. Again, thank you, a brickload. I can now enjoy the last week of my summer stress-free.
No, thank you for sharing Soul! And most of all a well meant congratulations for making it! I guess this means we'll be having a party?
