We are all created to be different. The world would be quite less exciting if we all looked and acted in the exact same way. We are not carbon copies of each other and we should be grateful that we are not! Speaking from my own experience, I have heard this very phrase above many times and I'm sure you have also heard it, as well. Take a minute to stop and think about the next idea that I am going to present to you. If we are constantly being lectured on being different and accepting what makes us special, why is it that the world and its inhabitants try to do the opposite and rid us of the very things that make us who we are, the things that we should be embracing? My goal to accomplish by the end of this article is to encourage you all to be your organic, unedited self, unchanged by the outside world and undoing the silence done by those who just don't understand you and your heart.
Learning how to be myself is a lesson that I am still on the path to learning each day, every waking moment. It is a lesson within our lives that takes both time and patience, impossible to find the answers overnight. We have to search deeper within ourselves and ask specific questions about the root of who we are as an individual and what we personally enjoy, along with taking our own morals into consideration. I have been doing my own searching within the past year and have been lucky enough to find answers to a few of my question revolving around who I am as an individual person and the way that I would like to present myself.
Recommended for you
Being your authentic self in our world is an act of bravery. We tend to shut ourselves off from others and put up a front that portrays a different image of ourselves than who we actually are. From my own experience, I have been an expert at doing this over this last five years. I was afraid to be myself, afraid of other people and their words and actions and would let people push me around. I would hide my authentic self behind a well-constructed wall and would try my best to fade into the background, my entire life in high school. This is a cycle that needs to be broken. A cycle that I myself didn't break until my sophomore year of college. I want to credit my close friends for being my main influence in helping me to do so. They accepted both the person that I was and the person that I am now growing into and encouraged me to do some soul searching in order to find myself. Eventually, I did just that and was successful within my endeavor. I had learned that underneath what was seemingly a soft interior was a strong, confident person who has a voice that needs to be shared with the world, a person who loves writing and has a passion for issues revolving around social justice, and a person who would never allow them self to be pushed around again. I changed my appearance on the outside as well. I did the things that I had always dreamed of doing but was too afraid to do so before. I had decided to get my nose pierced and I also shaved my head. It may seem like a bold move to some, but it felt completely natural to myself and what I needed to help myself start over. A complete change, both inside and out.
Your presence alone is powerful. Never forget that or let others tell you otherwise. Shine your light and accept your differences and find your completely unedited self.
