DIFFERENT: Coming Face-to-Face With Your Uniqueness
Written by Steven Bouris, Australia

For most of my life, I lived with fear so crippling that I was not living at all.
Born with a rare and large facial nevus (birthmark), Steven’s early life was shaped by stares, questions and medical trauma. Through these experiences and the coping mechanism of suppression, Steven formed certain behaviour patterns and limiting beliefs that followed him well into adulthood.
In Different: Coming Face to Face with Your Uniqueness, Steven shares his deeply personal journey – from being photoshopped in a school portrait to being told his birthmark would turn cancerous and he’d die. Steven believed that his birthmark was holding him back from both love and opportunity.
However, Steven’s life took a sudden turn in his mid-30s and the shock thrust Steven into a world of unknowns. But he took a leap of faith and decided to change with it. Ditching the self-doubt that plagued him his entire life, he uncovered the real Steven beneath the fear.
Through raw, honest stories, Steven reveals the tools and strategies he implemented to go from being crippled with shameful silence to standing confidently on global stages sharing his story.
For those with a nevus, parents/supporters of a nevus owner, or anyone feeling outcast, alone or struggling with mental illness, Different offers a compelling path forward to inner freedom.
This book is an invitation to reclaim your courage, rewrite your narrative, and step into the life that is waiting for you.

