Be Yourself NOW
by Meghan
(Ireland)
Me being Me
An interesting point has been made. Isn't there a way to be ourselves now? Well of course. Just be yourself. =D
I know a lot of you are from the USA and it's different there. But I'm fourteen and this year, I went into Fourth form, year eleven, or just plain old fourth year. For the first three years of my grammar school life, I was with the same people for every single class. You get to know people when you're with them six hours a day, five days a week. And that's fine. It's just that they get to know YOU too.
Let's face it, at the age of eleven, none of us are completely developed. We're childish and stupid. And from the age of eleven to the age of fourteen the same 24 people have been watching my mistakes, watching my mask of 'coolness' slip frequently, watching me stumble and stutter. They remember. They really do.
Hey Meghan, yeah, how is this helping?!
Well. Now that I'm in fourth year. I'm with different people in every class. I can create a whole new image of myself. It's great.
But, Meghan, are we not supposed to be ourselves here, not be an 'image'?
Well, yeah. See when people watch you make mistakes so often they kind of begin to expect them and in turn you expect you to make mistakes too. By the end of last year I was a big, messy mistake. I was so afraid of these people that I had actually scrambled back into what they knew. I never said the right thing. I hurt people, I was vain and just downright irritating. I was becoming what all of my class thought I was. And I didn't like it. But it seemed like that was who I was. That's what I thought.
But with all of these new people, I can return to what I've learned I actually am. I smile at the less popular people, they're the ones I get on with best. The 'In Crowd' appreciate friendly, smiley girls, so I just have to laugh at myself but mostly aim the conversations around them so that they don't get bored.
Boys love light hearted girls, so if I ever actually do whip up the nerve to talk to one of these creatures (and this rarely ever happens) I make sure I'm not complaining, but joking... and... well... making fun of them to their faces. They seem to like that. I try to be selfless, I try to always put others first. And I slip back to humanity frequently. But I really do try to be the 'nice' girl. I try to myself.
Everybody always says that. "Just be yourself." People have said it so many times I had almost become immune to it.
It was only today I realized that it actually works. All of those other popular people seem two faced, mean and take themselves too seriously seriously. But really, they aren't being themselves. And they are not actually popular. They're being what I was last year. They've shrunk to the cowardly realms of the superficial.
Ask yourself this question. Who would YOU rather have as your friend? A funny, caring, friendly, smiley person who can see your good points and encourage them or a sneering, whispering, raising of the eyebrows fake who only ever pays attention to your mistakes?
You have to be an idiot to pick the latter...
Be who you want as a friend.
