Finding yourself is probably one of the hardest things in life. You have people telling you how you should be or act and we have the media portraying how we should look or what body image we should be. You feel so much pressure growing up because you don't really know who you are. You don’t really know who you want to be. You're so busy trying to make everyone else around you happy you often forget about yourself and how you feel.

Is this really who you are? Is this who you really want to be? Are questions I asked myself. In elementary school you were the carefree kid; without a care in the world. Then in middle school you start worrying about boys and start getting into how you look and dress. And then you get in high school where you start to question if anyone is going to talk about your hair or outfit that day to just wanting to fit in and be accepted by everyone. Everyone just wanted to be the "cool kid"or popular.

I found myself worrying about stuff like how many comments or likes I got on my Instagram pictures like that justified my beauty and self esteem. I worried about how many followers I had on twitter as if that made me popular.I worried about who was talking behind my back, who were my real friends and who wasn't, I worried about things that wouldn't even matter ten years from now. But now that I'm older and more wiser, I look back and wonder why was I worried about all those stupid things? Why did I spend some of my life trying to satisfy and please others? You can lie to yourself and others, but soon you start to believe your own lies. I had to reveal to myself that who I was-wasn't really me. If you feel unhappy stop lying to yourself and others around you.It's never too late to take a step back and think about what is going to make you happy.

The old me was so worried about pleasing others that I never really did anything for myself or even fully loved myself; I never did anything because I wanted to do it or because I liked it. The point is we spend so much of our time trying to make the people around us happy that we forget we have to be happy too. And I'm not talking about the type of happiness you get from getting paid that upcoming Friday at your job but being genuinely happy. I have valued the opinions of my friends, social media, and family a little too much. I just wanted to be perfect and be accepted, when in all reality all I could ever be was myself.

But thank God for self growth. Looking back at how I use to be until now is just amazing to see. A wise man once said, "the only time you should look back in life is to see how far you have come.."I've overcome one of the hardest obstacles in life which is finding yourself and finding out who you really are. There is never a limit on growing, changing, and bettering yourself to become who you were meant to be. You can't go through life worried about what everyone else is going to think. Whether it's your hair, clothes, what you have to say, how you feel, or what you believe. You can't let the judgement of others stop you from being you. Because if you do, you're no longer you. You're someone everyone else wants you to be. So go learn about yourself, figure out what you dislike and like, explore the things that make you happy and do them, even challenge yourself to break out of your comfort zone and see what all the world has to offer for you. People spend a lifetime trying to find themselves. It's easy to lose sight of what's important in life but don’t forget to take care of yourself. Find yourself, and then others will find you.