Wake up. Do everything I possibly could to avoid conflict and please others. Go to sleep. Repeat daily.

This is what my life used to consist of until I eventually began to understand that it's impossible to make everyone happy. Now, I focus on me. This mindset might be considered selfish, but honestly, anyone who doesn't think this way is going to drive themselves crazy. You may not be able to control how you are seen by others, but you can always do what you know is best for you.

Anyone who knew me in middle school can tell you how much I've changed since then. I was a cheerleader who spent the majority of my time worrying about how I looked and what others thought of me. Blending into the popular crowd was my main concern.

Instead of embracing what made me different from every other person, I put all of my effort into hiding the real parts of myself. Being liked was more important to me than being happy. I thought the happiness would come from being liked, but instead, I just put pressure on myself to be perfect and made myself miserable.

Even after middle school, I was still not completely comfortable with myself. I definitely started to care less about what others thought, but I wasn't even close to having the attitude that I have today. Many people don't realize how tough high school can be because of the close-minded people that you're sometimes forced to deal with. I easily could've given up, crawled back inside my fake shell, and pretended to be the perfect person I used to like to show myself as, but a quality I've always possessed is persistence. Whether people liked me or not, I continued to be the person I wanted to be. I actually surprise myself. As a freshman, it would've been so easy to just fall back into the cycle of trying to fit in, but I kept it up. I worked hard at finding myself during my final years of high school and truly became comfortable in my own skin.

As a soon to be high school graduate, I look back and can't believe how much I valued the opinions of others. I purposely changed myself just to be like everyone else. One of my favorite quotes is from none other than Dr. Seuss, "You have to be odd to be number one." This is something I wish I would've made myself aware of when I used to base my worth on what others thought of me. I now understand that as human beings we are all created equal, but we are not all created the same. You won't get anywhere by trying to be exactly like the person next to you. To be successful in life, you need to pursue your goals and put yourself outside of your comfort zone. Fourteen-year-old me was comfortable being like everyone else and hated to be different. In three short years, I've grown as a person, and I finally appreciate the qualities that cause me to stand out from everyone else.

I know I still have a long way to go because, in reality, I am only sixteen, but I also know that my mentality has changed a lot since eighth grade. I finally understand the importance of self-acceptance more so than the acceptance from others that we all seem to strive for. Right now, I am the most real version of myself I've ever allowed myself to be, and I am so much happier because of it. I'm excited to see what my future holds for me because I know with my current mindset, I can only grow as a person. The confidence I have finally discovered after so many years of searching is something that cannot be taken away from me. After sixteen years, I've finally realized that happiness does not come from pleasing others, but from staying true to yourself.

I am a socially awkward, dad-joke telling, guitar playing, book-loving person, and I am finally comfortable with embracing this person as my true self.