Ever since I was young, until a few short months ago, I was always the type of person to care about what others think of me. My entire life, up until this past summer, I was fixated about how I appeared to others. Whether I was keeping up with the latest fashion trends, or fitting into the crowd, so as not to stick out like a sore thumb and draw any unwanted attention to myself. My biggest desire was to fit in; to mold myself to the societal standard set forth in front of me, and to be like the rest so that I may feel as though I belong.

How naive was I! To come to the realization of the absurdity of these thoughts was a blessing. If we spend our days trying to be like others, we will never truly learn how to live. By giving into conformity, we are allowing society to pave our paths for us. You are doing no one any favors by suppressing who you truly are. Life is beautiful because it is full of color; if everything was beige, things would be incredibly boring. Don't allow yourself to be beige.

Allow yourself to be yellow, or blue, or green, or red, or whatever color you dare to be. Be outspoken. Do things that you love. Do not become fixated in the do's and don'ts associated with being a teenager or a girl or any confining group of the sort. Free yourself from these conformities, and you will find a life that will bring you much more joy and happiness than the artificiality that you once existed in before.

No one will care about what you are wearing. No one will care about if your hair is brunette or blonde or purple or pink. No one will care but you, so start doing things that YOU want to do. Do not care about what other people think. This life is not yours if you allow other people's opinions to dictate your actions. If you want to be cool, be authentically you. You will radiate joy and confidence and authenticity, and this is what attracts the kind of people that you want to surround yourself with. If people only like you when you look like them, talk like them, and act like them, then you should not be around them. Do not allow anyone to confine your world. You have so far to go, such distances to grow towards; do not allow yourself to stay within the small span of a few miles.

At the end of the day, you are stuck hanging out with yourself. For the rest of your life, you will always have to talk to yourself, have conversations with yourself, look at yourself and, again, simply hang out with yourself. So, you might as well make yourself someone who is fun to hang out with.