At five years old, our parents kiss our foreheads, give us an encouraging tap on the shoulder, and whisper "they will like you, just be yourself" before we nervously go to school for the first time.
At ten, we cry over the fact that someone made fun of our Barbie lunch boxes. Again, our parents hold us in their arms, comfort us, and tell us that the opinions of others don't matter, so long as we are happy within ourselves.
At sixteen, when our crushes call us weird or our friends start to stray, our parents sit us down and say to just be ourselves, and that if people don't like us for who we are, that they aren't worth our tears.
As simple as it may seem, there are so many things in life that make it hard to be ourselves.
Whether it be wanting to fit in, wanting to fit an image, or even just simply not knowing who you are, there is always something that gets in the way of us all just being who we really are. There are so many stereotypes that exist, and so many are reinforced every day by hearing people being called "nerds" or "douchebags" or "sorority girls."
In high school, I went through multiple weird phases. I have been the "Tumblr girl" who wore red flannels and all black, the "basic white girl" who wore Pink, Uggs and drank Starbucks whenever I could, and the "vegan hippie" who wore every shade of green, drank kombucha, and preached radiating positivity and manifesting your destiny.
One thing that stayed constant through all these phases was my love for art and music, but I always suppressed these passions because I was afraid of what others would think of me.
To me, the most exciting thing about college was the thought that being myself could potentially be either the hardest or easiest it has ever been.
Without the influence of my parents, there was no pressure to dress in a way that they see as "appropriate" or "presentable." I no longer had to deal with trying to dress the way my high school friends did, act the way they acted, or listen to the music they listened to because they were out doing their own things and living their own lives trying to figure out who they were themselves.
When I got to college, I wanted to fit into a specific stereotype.
I wanted to be like the girls I saw on Instagram. I strived to be one of the girls who went out every night she could, took pictures against a white wall, and had tons of friends. As my freshman year went on, I got tired. I was tired of keeping up this act, posting pictures I didn't want to post, and talking to people I had nothing in common with. Over the summer, I decided to try to spend time figuring out who I really am.
When I came back to school, I had a better grasp of who I am. I accepted the fact that I am more interested in art than I am partying, that I like music festivals not because I want to simply say I was there but because of the music itself, and that I simply don't like songs that are played on repeat at frat parties.
When I accepted my interests and respected my own preferences, I was able to dress the way I wanted, do what I wanted, and act as I wanted. I was finally able to be who I felt I was without worrying about what people thought of me. By doing this, I was able to find friends that genuinely like me, have the same interests as I do, and appreciate me for who I am.
By no means was it easy to get to this point in my life. I still don't know who I am or what I want to do, but I feel like I am getting closer every single day.
I had to go through the worst, most embarrassing phases (like in middle school when I had a shirt that said "Nerds Rule" and had a graphic of a "nerd" holding a ruler on it) to get to this point of acceptance. The thing I have learned, though, is that being yourself is the best thing you can do not only because it is easiest, but also because a life where you are not yourself is not really your life at all.
You are only given one chance in this life, if you don't live it the way you want to, you're not living at all.
