This is coming from a girl who thrives on the approach of, "What can I do to stand out and be the most real, raw, and authentic version of myself?" I personally struggled with this idea of being different for a longgg time. In this day and age, and especially the time I'm at in my life, there is so many things that I want to find myself to be similar on with other people. You know, just to make sure I'm doing this whole 'life' thing right.

Here's the thing I learned really fast about wanting to be able to relate to at least someone about EVERYTHING I experienced- I wasn't really experiencing it for myself in the way I should have. I was so busy making sure that what I was doing was right, or what was parallel to everyone else, that I lost the idea of what was right for me; even if it was completely perpendicular to what someone else was doing or experiencing.

The really cool thing about perpendicular situations, however, is that we eventually will cross paths, and find similarities with someone, no matter how different the rest of your journey differed from someone else's.

God ON PURPOSE made all of our stories look different, because we are all meant to live different lives. Not one person is supposed to be on the same path as another, and I think that is the best part of all of this.

In most of my articles, I talk a lot about what our purpose is. I think the reason why I always circle back to this is because it truly is what God's plan is for us. In Romans 12:6, it tells us that, "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them; if prophecy, in proportion to our faith."

Considering I lived my first few months of college life trying to fit in to what I thought I was supposed to be doing, this verse really resonates with me. The day that I let all of that go, and realized that me being just as I was, was good enough. (And the right people would realize that in due time, too.) Sure, did I lose people, was it an uphill battle some days, feeling like something was wrong with me because what I thought was 'normal', didn't feel normal to me? HECK. YEA. !!!! But did I let this stop me to finding myself and my purpose? Nope.

So, with this all being said, it brings me back to the title- DARE TO BE DIFFERENT. Be yourself, and do not be afraid to do so. You are YOU for a reason. The right people will love you for that, and most importantly, you will eventually find that you love you for that, too.