Fake it till you make it.

It sounds shallow when you say it out loud but the idea itself is something really powerful. If there's something you honestly want to gain or a kind of person that you feel like you should be, then it's a legitimate strategy towards developing yourself.

Now, I know you must be thinking, "Don't pretend to be someone you're not" but this doesn't just have to be about the cliche personality switches that happen on TV shows or angsty high school movies - it can be something as simple as being more open about how you feel or gaining confidence to stand up for yourself by channeling those people around you.

The best way to learn is from example after all.

All the way up to, I'd say 8th grade, I never really aspired to do anything out of my comfort zone. Or social. Or really anything that meant putting in extra effort out of fear of being judged by others after exposing social vulnerability. Because of that, I kind of just sat in the background of life for the longest time. I didn't really have that many friends and wasn't the most - scratch that - at all an interesting person to be around. Sure I had my book smarts but those weren't really enough to make up for the overwhelming lack of personality that I, unfortunately, had. I trailed around with people, joined in with other groups on occasion, but to be frank I didn't really do anything.

For lack of a more fitting term, I was a baby back bitch.

It was in the freshman year of high school that I realized it was time for a change of pace, but the problem with that was that I didn't have any experience of my own to work with. The initiative I took for myself was at the very least talking to people and getting an idea of what made them, to me at least, have the drive to be social.

And so it began.

What followed was a long road of trial and error - and being aware of the fact that this was borderline sociopathic behavior - and from that, I started picking up what made me open up and be willing to do the things I wanted.

Funny enough, it was really just a crash course on learning how not to give a fuck and developing a sense of humor.

But you know to be different for other people.

Probably.

Really it's more about having a reservoir of blind confidence and a desire to grow as a person because when combined those two traits really become something powerful. After all, you can't really move in any direction, good or bad, if you don't make a move.

Making sure it's informed just makes it all the better.