For as long as I can remember, I've been told that I was too silly, always making jokes, too talkative and too clumsy. I was the loud, obnoxious girl with unruly curly hair who never matched her clothes. I liked to read poetry and paint pictures. I didn't like your typical kid toys; I liked secondhand books. I was the girl with chubby cheeks and braces. Then I got sick and became the sick girl who was always in the hospital and the girl who was too afraid to bring other kids home because I didn't come from something that I felt proud of. I listened to classic rock and read Edgar Allen Poe and always seemed to fail at expressing my feelings with words, so I learned to express myself with art. Simply put: I did not fit in.Everyone looked at me like I was a crazy person, and maybe I was, but why? Because I liked different things? Because I wasn't conforming to what they all thought was "cool" or "normal"?
As a kid, I knew that I was different from everyone else in my small town. I wasn't being raised the same and I didn't like what they liked, and for that, I was branded a weirdo and a freak. I heard that so often that I began to think being different was a bad thing, like some sort of crime. I spent way too much time disliking who I actually was because of this. I wanted to be like everyone else—those people seemed to have it easier.
But now, I love myself because of the fact that I'm not like everyone else. I decided to work every day to create the world I wanted regardless of what other people thought and I still push myself all the time to "create a new world" because I know now that I would rather be a leader than a follower. I realize now that it's OK to be weird and ridiculous and say crazy things. It's OK for me to be whoever I want to be and that is a million times better than trying to make myself fit the mold of who everyone else is.
It takes no bravery whatsoever to go along with what is popular. To all of you oddballs out there or to those of you who are dealing with difficult circumstances, I give you this advice: keep on keeping on and don't ever give up. Set your eyes and your minds on the future and start making the world what you want it to be.
