Not too long ago I walked by the patch of flowers pictured above. As I came across the simple beauty, I had to stop and snap this photo. I realized that the reason I stopped was to appreciate the beauty of being different. Something about the combination of the purple flowers next to the few white ones made the landscape even more beautiful. If the landscape was full of purple flowers, I don’t think it would have brought my attention because all of them were the same and none really stood out, except the white ones of course. Recently, I’ve been thinking about the beauty of nature, and the lessons it can teach. In this instance I was reminded of the beauty in nature’s uniqueness, and the natural creation of flowers, trees, animals, and people.

Seeing uniqueness as beautiful may not be new to many of you, but throughout my life, I experienced great difficulty accepting and loving my uniqueness, and the things that make me different. Sadly, I was constantly judging and comparing myself to others; never bringing good thoughts that gave me self-esteem.

Through high school and middle school during those awkward years, I struggled to fit in a society that made me become vain and selfish. At the time, I thought not “fitting in,” or conforming to what others thought was the norm, meant I would be unhappy and have few friends. As a fearful teenager of few friends, I tried to fit into a society that brought me no pure joy. Thankfully, in the past few years, it has become clearer that the “need” to fit in, is unnecessary for true happiness.

In college, I’ve come to realize that when you are fully your authentic self, it is much more fun, regardless of what those surrounding you think. Do you ever see someone so confident in their own skin that they make you want to be just as confident in your own? For me, yes! This mentality of caring less about what others think is not practiced nearly enough in our society, and we need to change that. There’s so much more beauty in you than you think, and being your true self is the best way to show the beauty there is within you, and you only.

It is so important to express the real person in you because it leads you to freedom of any negative thought trying to bring you down. Whether the world knows it or not, others appreciate us the most when we are simply ourselves, and the world truly needs it. Expanding on this idea, it is also important to accept and love others for their differences, because that’s what makes them unique. It helps raise their confidence as well as your own confidence to be YOU! No one other person has had the life you've had, and because of this it is our opportunity to love each other for who we truly are.