Lzzy Hale of Halestorm didn't have an easy time while growing up, particularly in middle school. In the clip below she opens up about dealing with bullies and believing in herself in this APTV video message to her 13-year-old self.

"The great thing is that in a couple of years, you won't be thinking of them," she says about the bullies. "They're definitely not as cool as you."

She talks about forming a band as a 13-year-old, and going through many different members before deciding on a band that worked. "Your little brother is crazy; don't kill him, because he's legendary," says Hale.

Hale recently posted a new entry in her Lady Evil online diary entitled Brutally Yours. An excerpt is available below:

"I’d like to talk about a sticky subject and how it relates to sex, confidence, stress, and over all quality of life. Honesty.

Honesty is both the heartbeat and the heartbreaker. What I’ve learned personally is that my professional and personal life would not exist without it. Honesty takes bravery. To be honest with yourself and to be honest with those who surround you and those close to you, is scary.

We all want to fantasize and believe we are someone else, someone more desirable, always right, and undisputedly perfect. Well, the truth is that none of us are those things, but equally by being ourselves we ARE everything we need to be. Wouldn’t it suck if you did everything in your power to be someone else that you thought someone else wanted… only to find out that they really wanted YOU for everything that you ARE all along? We as humans do not exist as pieces to a monochrome wardrobe of society, solely for the purpose of matching each other. We are meant to shine brightly in our own way completely different than the one that stands to our right or left.

I’ve gotten more rewards from putting myself out there. This blog and my relationship with all of you, for example: I decided a long time ago to be unapologetically myself, and give all of you access to my best and my worst. Because I know that there is only one me, and not everyone is gonna like it, but the people that do accept me for all of me, are the ones that are worth keeping. So, I thank you for everything you all are to me. And remind you to Be Brutal, Be You."

Go to this location for the complete blog entry.

On January 8th, Hale and Halestorm guitarist Joe Hottinger performed an acoustic set at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville, TN. Check out the fan filmed video from the night below.