As I grow up, I realize that my job is to not please the world around me. It is not up to me to make everyone happy, and it is not up to me to be who everyone wants me to be. I've always worked to fit the standard that society shoves down our generation's throat. It seems as though we all want to be the girl that every guy looks at, to be as good as the girls on the billboards. But why? Who was I working so hard to please, and why was I never good enough in my own eyes?

It's been hard growing up at the peak of pop culture, at a time where musicians, actresses, and models are constantly worshipped. Unfortunately, that time has not come to an end as a range of young girls to women everywhere wonder why they don’t look like the girls in the magazines. Today’s society is surrounded around image, the physical image of an individual and not the image of their accomplishments. I've heard more women talk about their flaws than their accomplishments. I've heard more women talk about their new diets than about the promotion they hope to achieve a year from now.

I've realized a lot of things throughout the awkward middle school years, the non-stop high school years, and now the life changing college years. Watching Blake Lively on Gossip Girl would always make me think, “How can I change something so that I look as pretty as her?” Nothing. Nothing needs to be changed about any of us and that's what a lot of people in today’s world need to start realizing. There’s a lot of truth in the cheesiest statement I've ever heard, “there's plenty of fish in the sea”. Yes, there are and this is because not one person is the same, we will never find our exact replica and vice-versa, we should never try to replicate someone else.

I've found that most people have the flaw of bringing others down in order to build themselves up. This stems from a lack of self-esteem, which is prevalent in everyone. There will always be imperfections, we are human and this is impossible to escape. There will also always be perfections, each person that has entered this world has had a contribution no matter how small. This is what society needs to focus on. People need to start talking about their aspirations, their accomplishments, and the things they love. People need to start doing this with good intentions, not with intentions to make others jealous that they don't have the same things or that they’re not at the same place in their life.

I hope that society starts to realize that everyone has their own path, nothing is identical. Individuality needs to become a much more prevalent characteristic of today’s society. The everyday norm should be to love ourselves and our achievements, and if we haven't reached our goal then we should set goals and be confident that we can achieve them. We should work to build each other up, even if that means putting our pride and ego on the shelf.