Unapologetically Weird
Growing up family events put me in a perpetual state of anxiety. My cousins were not my friends. In fact, they barely spoke to me. It made me feel like such an outcast at the time. I remember dreading holidays and only got through them with either a book in my face or with the help of my I-Pod shuffle. I just never fit in.
This didn’t follow me into school though, I found my own friend group pretty easily and was happy to spend time with people I related to. As I grow older though, the feeling of being ‘the outcast’ has made its way back into my life. It’s not always easy to embrace our uniqueness, especially when we feel pressure to conform to societal norms or fit in with certain groups. Only now, I’ve learned to embrace it. I don’t shy away from my weirdness and actually find myself relishing in it.
“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” – Maya Angelo
I decided that I don’t want to follow the crowd, I don’t want to just be the textbook definition of normal. I want to stand out, not to draw attention to myself (cue the social anxiety!) but because I don’t ever want to apologize for liking the things I like. All the little pieces of me that make me so brilliantly, wonderfully me. Like my absolute love of emo music, or the way I can spend hours upon hours researching WW2 and have a blast doing it.
Trends are not for me to follow. Popularity is fleeting, what’s “in” right now won’t be six months from now. I wish more people felt compelled to be themselves and embrace it the way I have. I used to think this was only a problem teenagers had, until I reached my thirties and realized that trends and cliques are still alive and well no matter how old you get.
My wish for everyone reading is to let go of the status quo. Who cares if you’re the only adult you know that can recite Hamilton word for word (that may just be me, lol), the point is, like what you like, be who you are. If you find the need to fit in more with the people you’re around, THOSE AREN’T YOUR PEOPLE, and honestly, that’s their loss for missing out on your genuine, unique self.
