Watching the captain of the basketball team in his brand new shoes or envying the golden curls of the “it” girl, we’ve all been there. What someone had or the way they dressed, we wanted to emulate. So we attempt to dress like them, talk like them, to our hair like they do just to make a name for ourselves. To possibly get closer and closer to who they are because in our minds they are “perfect.”

This phenomenon has most likely gone on since the beginning of mankind, but no one really knows because no one wants to admit they have done it. People copying other people just to be the “better” version of themselves, which in a way is not really them, but someone else instead.

This is for the kids who grew up wanting to be someone they were/are not.

Stop — it’s not worth the tears, the constant comparing, or overthinking. Don’t waste your time worrying about if you’re good enough or trying to be someone you’re not. Don’t waste your money on clothes and accessories to have what someone else has. Don’t be upset because you are not them, be happy because you are you.

You have your own conscious control, your own thoughts and feelings, your own personality, your own beautiful features, and your own amazing talents. You have the power to be yourself, so why would you want to be anyone else?

It can be difficult to be yourself in a society that bites back, but doesn't listen. Don’t let anyone tell you that you are less than them, or that you don’t dress right, or that you aren’t good enough. Know that you are enough; You are perfect, beautifully and wonderfully made. There are billions of cells that worked together and continue to function to make you possible.

Do your best to be yourself. . . not someone else. Spend less time worrying about being them and more time happy about being you. Take a second to look in the mirror, point out all of the things you love about yourself. Think about how lucky you are to be looking in that mirror, how it’s possible that you are here.

Someday it will all work out, you’ll find your place. You will be the happiest that you have ever been and you will be surrounded by real people who are like the real you. I challenge you to learn to love yourself, because that is so much more important than anything else.

“You are you, that’s truer than true, and no one alive is youer than you!” –Dr. Suess