I've never been comfortable in my own skin. Talking to and understanding others has always been awkward for me, and learning to love myself has been one of my biggest challenges. One day, I was introduced to something that would eventually help me accept myself for who I am and learn how to build meaningful relationships with others: cosplay.
In my last year of middle school, a friend of mine found out that an actor we both admired, Brett Dalton, was going to a convention called Dallas FanDays that weekend. Because of this, we begged my parents to take us so that we could meet him. Eventually they agreed, and when we got to the convention, we noticed that there were many people dressed up in fun, elaborate costumes. It was like Halloween exploded inside of a convention center at the beginning of October. Once we met Brett Dalton, we left, but my friend never forgot about the eye-catching costumes of the people at the convention. Because of this, she did some research and discovered that what those people were doing was called cosplay, a portmanteau of the words costume play, which is a performance art where participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. This newfound activity immediately peeked our interests, and we began to do more research about how to start cosplaying. As a result, the two of us ended up cosplaying together at that same convention a year later. We both absolutely loved it, and five years later, cosplay is one of the parts of my life that brings me the most joy.
Throughout my five years of being a cosplayer, I have learned to accept myself for who I am by becoming other people. How can I be myself if I am supposed to be someone else? Well, the first few times I cosplayed at conventions, I found it easier to talk to others and make friends than I ever had before. This is because when in cosplay, I am no longer afraid of being judged for my personality or appearance. Cosplaying a character makes me feel that I am creating a connection with that character, and doing this brings out their personality traits buried inside of me. This has helped me learn that I have had these traits within me all along, but I just needed something to bring them out. Cosplay gives me confidence, and it makes me realize that there is no need to be afraid of being myself because people actually like me for me. Furthermore, because I have been able to come out of my shell, I have formed many amazing relationships through cosplay. Not just friendships, but also relationships with professional photographers, videographers, and businesses. Cosplay has given me the opportunity to learn how to work with many different people, from organizing photoshoots with photographers to meetups and panels with fellow cosplayers. Moreover, I have been able to work with different businesses to promote their products and movies on my social media platforms, Instagram and TikTok, which has helped me learn how to build professional relationships with companies. I never thought that dressing up for fun could lead to so much, but I am truly grateful that I have been able to learn a great deal from something I love.
Cosplay has helped me in many areas of my life, and I believe that all of the opportunities it has presented me will benefit me going forward. Working with these multiple companies provides me with the experience needed to help conduct business relationships in the future. Being a cosplayer has truly improved my social skills, and allowed me to form friendships, collaborations, and most importantly, a healthy relationship with myself.
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