Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-24187738-20151214152123/@comment-25990433-20151220181603

Love Live has changed my life for the better, most definitely.

In June of last year, my mother, sister and I were headed to a small town a few hours away to attend the funeral of a family friend's daughter who committed suicide. My 3DS was dead and I was bored out of my mind, so I was on the Google Play Store looking for something to play.

'School Idol Festival' caught my attention, not only because it had a cute girl as the icon, but clicking the game and reading more about it just...drew me in. I download it, choose Eli Ayase as the girl I want to start a team with, sit through the tutorials, sit through the painfully long download afterwards, and finally start playing. I got extremely frustrated because I kept failing Bokura no LIVE Kimi to no LIFE, but when I finally made it through the song, I remember feeling overjoyed and proud of myself. I didn't touch the game for a while after that, I kind of forgot about it.

On another warm Summer night, I remember sitting with my best friend (Who is still my best friend) and talking. He asks me how the drive was, and I start talking to him about SIF. He didn't really care. On that night, I full combo'd Bokura no LIVE Kimi to no LIFE on easy, and once again that feeling of unbridled joy washed over me.

Fast forward a few weeks and I solo scout the 'Charming Mermaid' Eli Ayase SR. More feelings of joy and proudness of myself for being able to accomplish such a feat.

Another fast forward to a month later, and I find myself Google searching 'Love Live' to get pictures of my new favorite girl, Nozomi. I find links to an anime and watch both seasons in one sitting. I found myself crying, feeling joy, and even cheering for the nine idol girls who worked endlessly towards their main goal of winning the Love Live. It made me so glad when they finally did it, and I remember my dad waking up to scold me for being so loud during the middle of the night. I couldn't help it, they finally did it. I remember that I related most to Nozomi, because like her, I had a sad childhood and kind of force a smile on my face sometimes.

I lose my phone with the SIF account I'd been working so hard on, and while it's disappointing, I'm also excited when I finally get a new phone so I can start over and try to get better cards. Around this time, the event 'Can I really Shine?' was going on. I didn't work hard enough to get the card, and I didn't get an event card until the event 'My Wavering Heart'. Again, cue the excited feelings and the feelings of 'Wow, I actually did it!!'

I then got a better phone and switched to the JPN server, where I get my first non-promo UR: The mermaid Nozomi UR! It happened on the day my dog died, and while I was incredibly sad, it was a really nice way to bring my mood up. This was around February of this year.

A week or so later, I find a Facebook post about how some girls in my area were doing a Love Live cosplay group for the first opening outfits. The only character left was Nozomi. I happily accepted and I got to dance with some really amazing people at a local convention, and finally preforming the dance for even just twenty people was so rewarding. We had worked so hard for that moment, done our very best and felt good about it.

A few days after the con, I realized I wanted those good feelings to keep happening. I wanted to make people happy and I wanted to feel good!! So I founded AskLoveLive in March of this year. Through AskLoveLive, I have met some of the most amazing, talented, and special people I've ever known- the individuals who I work with. We've grown our small blog from 10 followers to 300, and we just did the biggest giveaway of our entire blog. We've worked together to make people laugh, to invoke feelings in people, and to make ourselves happy.

I realized again that I felt proud that I was able to start and grow something so amazing.

My point is, Love Live has kept making me feel so amazing about myself- has brought up my self-confidence- which is weighed down by depression and anxiety- skyrocketing. I've been able to make people happy, to make MYSELF happy, and I think that's one of the most important things.

I can't imagine what my life would be like if my 3DS never died or if the app store never recommended School Idol Festival to me. I think I'd still be very sad and I think I'd still think lowly of myself.

Love Live, it's been an amazing ride. I can't wait for Aqours. Thank you so, so much.