You

A random childhood memory that I have not thought about in months just popped into my head. When I was in middle school, there was this high school girl that I wanted to be just like. I wanted to walk like her, talk like her, dress like her, I wanted to be her. So I (very creepily!) watched her every move so I could learn what I was supposed to be like.

I thought I had her figured out...she was a tomboy. And she was cool. She was fun to be around and everyone liked her. She wasn't really girly and I liked that. So I slowly stopped wearing jewelry, dressed up as little as possible, and worked on my "cool" mannerisms and faces in private...I had now declared myself a tomboy. Just like my role model. 

And then one day, I sat behind her in church and I saw something that literally crushed me...her nails were painted! Was she hiding a girly side? What about being a tomboy? I was having an identity crisis...who am I if this girl isn't who I thought she was? 

As I repeat this story, I realize how ridiculous I was. But I'm learning a lot from this childhood memory...when I thought about the advice I'd take from this story, I immediately thought "just be you." I wanted to scream at my middle-school self "just be YOU!" 

You is quite a word. You is different for everyone. You's are like snowflakes...no 2 you's are alike. 

This girl has no idea how much I watched her, how desperately I tried to be like her. What if she was doing the same thing to someone else? What if while I was trying to be her, she was trying to be someone else? Now that would cause a lot of identity crisis'! 

My point is that there is no rule book on how to be you. Even though we think society has made an unwritten list of do's and dont's, there are no right and wrong answers. Pave the way; make your own path; just be you and learn to love it!