Hey guys!

Today I want to discuss with you a personal matter that is often frowned upon in society and something we can't always perform.

When I say personal I mean this in a way that it can affect us all in different ways. Being yourself is in my view, a big part of everyone's lives but in different ways. So, some people are confident enough to wear tracksuit bottoms in public because society accepts them for who they are so therefore however they present themselves to us we automatically accept it. However, this isn't as easy for others.

It can also be affected by the environment you are in. For example, school is probably one of the most difficult environments to enter, let alone being yourself. If you are not classified as one of the 'cool kids' then they will make it tricky for you to fit in. Every environment is a different situation often because it depends what the focus is. When you're in school, one of our main focuses is fitting in and desiring popularity. Whereas at University, people are less likely to care because everyone there is focusing on getting their degree which is the most important focus here. School is also not a place where we prefer to be so I suppose it is also a way of making life interesting for the pupils because they are bored and making fun of others only enables their time there to be slightly more enjoyable.

When I look back at my school years now, my thoughts relate to 'I should have done this'. I think the reason why at the time, we don't think of ways we would now, to prevent horrible experiences is to do with our level of maturity. Today, if someone were to come up to me and say something rude, I wouldn't back down because I know that they shouldn't be saying that to me because there is no need. At school, because we're young and naive, I probably felt like I deserved it because I didn't feel as good/attractive as them. When they are 'being theirself', they are attractive, glow with confidence. So because we are too scared of being ourselves in case of being picked on or not looking attractive, this causes us to hide away and go by society's expectations in order to keep people happy and preventing mean words thrown our way.

Another issue could be that the 'cool kids' probably know that we're scared of being ourselves and see us as easy targets. This was definitely one of my issues in school. I understand that it is hard to confidently not wear makeup because that's not 'you' or be a 'gamer' and proud because it's different. If I'm honest, most of the 'cool kids' probably have weird likes that no one knows of because they fit in and are even more scared of no longer fitting in. However, my point is not to think about anyone but yourself when it comes to presenting the real you. For example, say you wore no makeup for the first time to school *oh no, the shock(!)* the best way to enter the environment is to not look at anyone in a shifty way, waiting for them to judge. Strut that beauty booty through the door and not think about people judging you because the way I look at it today is 'why would someone use their time to judge me? I wouldn't lower myself to that kind of level that I'm using my time to think about someone else who I will be hurting'. Let the haters hate because if you think about it, they're using their time to find ways of bullying you!!!!