The price of being yourself

                    

Acting like we are who we are is not easy.

We live in a world where society constantly let us know how we should be, how we should act, how we should look and how we should feel. All those who do not fit into those parameters are considered weird and are automatically treated as if there was something wrong with them.

From the moment that we are born we are taught that being different is wrong and we are encouraged to be like everybody else, to fit in.

The moment we perceive ourselves as different, we live in fear of others finding this out and we dedicate a great amount of time to do things so that others accept us.

Teens get drunk, smoke and do drugs just to be part of a group, just to be “cool”, a word used to describe a person that has all the attributes that society approves.

Adults follow the steps of the ones before them but sometimes not because they want to but because that is “the right thing to do”. Society has taught us that if you do not have a career, if you do not get married or have kids then you are wasting your life. And please, don’t think I am criticizing wanting to study, learning or wanting to spend the rest of your life with the person that you love beside you. If I did, I would be doing the same thing that I so strongly believe we should avoid: JUDGING

Doing what we feel like doing, Speaking our mind and heart out, Listening to the music that we like, dressing up to be comfortable not to be admired or accepted, all of that comes with a price. Being free is not for free. When we start caring more about what we think rather than what others think of us, we pay a price in the form of a label. It could be loner, weird, nerd, dumb, smartass, slut (If you happen to have friends that are not girls), gay (sometimes just because you are nice and have good manners), you name it.

There are millions of labels for people that decide to be just the way they are. Being free is being willing to accept that label, to embrace it and to redefine it for ourselves with its true meaning without expecting others to approve it.