Today, we live on an earth with over 7 billion people…well closer to 7.4 billion people to be exact. For those of you who don’t know, that’s a lot of zeros. It’s not always an easy task to feel unique and individualistic when you consider how many people are out there. I know for me, I always felt like the odds were stacked against me. “How am I supposed to differentiate myself from the other 7 billion people on this planet?” The answer to this question might be one of the most cliché things ever uttered, but it’s the truth. The reality of the situation is that the only way to differentiate yourself from everyone else is just to simply Be. Yourself.

It’s easy to hear something on the radio or maybe read an article on the internet and relay that information. It’s a whole different ball game to be able to take that information and come up with your own unique ideas and conclusions for yourself. Now I won’t lie to you, this task isn’t always an easy one, but it is rewarding. For instance, have you ever written an essay and basically just re-worded something that someone else said on the internet? It’s obviously much easier to do it that way and there’s nothing wrong with that, we’re all guilty of doing it at some time or another. But what I’m suggesting is that instead of using someone else’s opinions, you came up with your own opinions and deductions based on what you think. Is this the easy way to do things? Nope. Nearly nothing good has ever come from doing things the easy way. With this in mind, I’m going to go back to my original point, be yourself. Only you know: what you find interesting, what you find infuriating, what you think is the best way to spend your free time, what types of people you want to surround yourself with, what’s most important to you, what your dream job is. I think once you’ve considered these types of things for yourself, you’ll realize something consistent about your answers. Those answers are what make you, you. Those answers are your voice.

It’s not easy growing up in the 21^st century sometimes. Is it awesome we have access to basically every piece of information available to us at any time? Hell yeah it is, but at the same time it causes a lot of people to live vicariously through others. Don’t just let life pass you by and become one of the other 7 billion people out there. I challenge you to do things on your own, make mistakes and learn from them, think freely and for yourself, do the things you want to do, do things the way you want to do them, say the things you want to say them, and finally just be yourself. If you do all this, I guarantee you that you’ll be able to find your voice too.