Feeling the need to fit in is stereotypical for a teenager. hat happens when the basis for their happiness comes from the opinions of their friends, family, or even strangers?

Everyone is different and deals with their struggles differently. For me, the struggle took over my life. Every day when I woke up, it started. I would wake up early just to go through my closet to find the right outfit with enough name brands to "fit in."

Getting to school I might walk past the group of friends that were true to me and go to the cool group that would never go out of the way for me.

The friends I put myself around, didn't care about what I needed. For example, instead of Friday's nights spent studying they insisted in us going out. So with the fear of losing these "friends" I blew off school. That didn't go without consequence.

I stayed home to study one weekend and quickly I was "replaced." I felt betrayed, hurt, and lonely.

Soon after that, God took care of me. He sent me best friends that stayed with me until I got the homework finished or whatever had to be done before we went out. The ones didn't make it a big deal to just stay in to watch movies. I could be myself and that was the best thing I could ever ask for. I didn't have to wake up an hour earlier to just make sure my hair or makeup was perfect. I began to feel comfortable in my own skin.

I soon realized that sometimes schedules don't always work out, sometimes it turned out you would text a random friend to see if they were free to see the movie you've been wanting to watch and it didn't become a big ordeal.

The clothes, going out, or the popular group of friends didn't truly make my heart happy. The most important thing that changed my prospective was finding the thing that made me happy with myself not relying the happiness to anyone that could let me down.