A byproduct of my mad procrastination skills is that I am a "Gossip Girl" expert. With finals quickly creeping up around the corner, you can bet that I've spent plenty of quality time with my Netflix account rather than my textbooks. It was while I was supposed to be studying for my Spanish final, but I was watching an episode of "Gossip Girl" that truly gave me an epiphany. Girls all over the world adore the on-again, off again, complicated-but-passionate romance between Chuck and Blair. There is one episode in particular, though, that really gets to me. Chuck tells Blair that he has changed and he wants her back, and despite the fact that Blair is madly in love with him, she says, "I have to be Blair Waldorf before I can be Chuck Bass' girlfriend."
The truth in this statement is all too real. Girls of the 21st century: It's time to focus on yourself. Blair didn't want to be some powerful and successful guy's girlfriend; she wanted to be powerful and successful herself. After she told him this, he told her, "If two people are meant to be together, eventually they'll find their way back." I 100 percent agree with Chuck. Sometimes we need to take a step back and realize that we are our own people and that what is meant to happen will eventually work out.
It occurred to me that I don't need to sit around waiting for my Chuck Bass to get his act together. I need to be Madison first. I'm not the girl I'd like to be quite yet. I don't want to be somebody's accessory. Being someone's girlfriend is not a synonym for my name. Now this may seem like the prelude to me going out and buying 12 cats and dying alone, but I assure you it's so much more than that. I've realized that I need to love myself and get myself on track before I can worry about anyone else. This may sound selfish, and it is. Of course, I will always be there for the Chuck Bass in my life — whoever he may be — but I'm only 19 years old. I don't need to have my future husband picked out, but I do need to be focusing on my dreams. I want to be a professional ballet dancer, and I need to be confident in who I am and in my own capabilities before I start stressing over wedding invitations or even over Valentine's Day plans.
I don't want to be dependent on another person for my life's purpose. Of course, I don't plan on staying single forever, but at this precise moment I feel like I've lost touch with who I want to be. I don't just want to be someone's girlfriend, and if I am someone's girlfriend, I'd better have a lot more to me than that. Once a girl told me that she overheard people saying that the guy I was with at the time was dating the "Kappa Delta from Wisconsin." I refuse to let my sorority, state, and boyfriend be the only things to define who I am. I am Madison Linnihan and I intend on being someone.
So, girls of the 21st century, don't abandon yourself in pursuit of your Chuck Bass. We are no longer limited to a career as a housewife. Women everywhere are accomplishing remarkable things, so don't lose sight of your dreams. I am by no means telling you to go and break up with your boyfriends, but I am telling you to go out and accomplish everything you could possibly imagine. To all the single ladies: Don't distress. Use this time to become the woman you are meant to be. It might have taken Blair Waldorf to ingrain this into my head, but at last, I'm finally realizing it.
