I never struggled with an identity problem until recently in my life. I always found it quite easy to be myself and always feel comfortable in every single social setting without second guessing my rate of being "approved" by others. I never thought of what I needed to wear or how I was coming off. To this day, I still stand by the same amount of confidence in myself. I do not seek the approval of others or to be like anyone but myself. Recently though things have gotten a tad complicated.

You see the issue at hand now is that there is an idea of who I "need" to be in order to "fit" into the work field that I want to pursue. It involves a lot of monochromatic clothing options, minimal piercings, and probably heels which could be fun, but could also minimize my dating pool by a large quantity considering I'm already pretty tall. Plus all the yoga in the world cannot help the poor balance I have. The concept of a square working space also promotes another conflict for a piercing I recently had done. It would be my seventh piercing, but the first that was in a place that cannot be easily ignored.

My parents had mixed feelings, which did not shock me. I wasn't looking for permission because it is my body and my choice. Opinions are always going to be something that I value especially if they differ from mine. Their comments were very different. One stating that I am doing everything that they would never think of doing and another stating that I might not like all of the choices I make for myself at this age.

With this piercing and this fork in the road of who I am and who I want to be with the additive of who I need to be in order to be "accepted" I have decided that the word "myself" has gained some new importance.

There is only one option and that is the option that I demand myself to take. I refuse to dim myself down in order to fit into a position or to find that approval many probably are looking for. I stand by my morals and my quirks because if you cannot be yourself then who can you be?

I am warned about how I may portray myself, but with this I have realized my fear of stereotypes and how they can control my life. I should be using my outer appearance as a representative of who I am and I am not afraid to express myself.

Is it a real shocker that at the end of the day a girl with a nose piercing would choose to be anything else?