When I was eleven, I was at my friend Dylan's house. His dog had just had puppies, and to keep them quiet and calm, his mom played country music on a small speaker. That was my earliest exposure to country music. I told Dylan, "I don't like that music," because that was what the kids at school said. Instead, they listened to 21 Savage and Drake, and because that was the cool thing to do, so did I. A year later, my brother put the song I Wish Grandpas Never Died by Riley Green on in the car, and I told him I did not like country, but deep down, I liked it. I would never admit that to him because all my peers told me Rap was incredible music. I wanted to know how to make the shift. But over the next month, I started asking my friend Dylan for his favorite country songs and my brother Nick for his. Very soon, I was hooked. 

I spent hours listening and learning: the words, artists, and songs. One day, Nick picked me up from school and told me about this new artist who had just released an album. That artist was Zach Bryan, so we listened to the whole album on the way home. I became mesmerized by his voice and passion for the songs he wrote. I started trying out the lifestyle he and other artists discussed in the songs. I wondered what would the kids at school say. Then I made a decision not to care and just to be me. This made me realize what I truly believe in and changed how I interacted with others. I realized I never followed my beliefs and always followed the people around me. It helped me form my true core beliefs. Not what the kids and adults in my life believed, but instead what I wanted. The way I dressed changed too. I started to wear cowboy hats and boots, and people at school all looked and laughed. I didn't care because I was happy, and that's all that mattered to me.

Zach Bryan's music helped me find the person I wanted to become. I had become more country. I realized I was interested in trucks, hunting, and dirt bikes. Going to my hunting club became more fun. I wanted to get up early in the morning and go hunt. The lyrics of country music made me appreciate America as a country more. I grew up in a more rural town than where my brothers and the people from my school grew up. Because of this, I had a different view of what it should be like from my brother and the people in my town. 

The story's moral is that I don't care what people think about me and want to do things my way. I should not feel pressured to be a specific type of person just because those around me are like that. Go with the other people or be me.