On Originality...

Ever since I was a wee baby tot,

I've felt like a square peg trying to squeeze myself into a round hole. Although conformity drives me absolutely bonkers, I feel myself succumbing to it daily. 

The thing is, we all do.

How many times do you first hear a new song and absolutely hate it, but then it gets played a few thousand times on the radio and the next thing you know, it's blaring from your phone anytime your best friend gives you a ring?

Take Vera Bradley handbags for instance... when I first noticed them becoming popular for girls to carry, I laughed and poked fun, because they reminded me of old ladies who hold each other up as they walk into church on Sunday mornings. I knew girls who brought them to frat parties to carry their beer in.

5 years later, I now own 5 Vera Bradley bags.

I think it's human nature to be drawn to things that other people are drawn to, no matter how ridiculous those things may be. Unfortunately, we live in a society that throws paper bags on famous people's bodies, then plasters pictures of it on the front of Vogue Magazine, and the next week, sure enough, brown paper bags are selling at your local grocery store for 20 bucks a pop.

This is the kind of thing that keeps me from getting sleep at night. Obviously, I have my priorities straight.

I suppose the underlying issue I have has more to do with people who live life un-originally. By this I mean, those people who only do things or act a certain way only because it's "in-style" to do so. Some of these people may be having an identity crisis, which is ok because for goodness sake, I have photographic proof that I've been there too...

However, at some point, you have to snap out of it and figure your life out.

We need a society with more people who are genuine. Being genuine doesn't mean that you're a modern day Mother Theresa, never have bad days, never wish life was easier, never think a negative thought about another person. Being genuine means that you know exactly the kind of person you are and you know what you stand for. And the people around you are aware of these things as well. Under whatever circumstances you are going through, your life's truths should remain constant. When you are genuine, you deny the temptations that make you stray for the morals that you live by. You know what's important in your life, and you steer clear from the things that pull you away from that. 

Now, if you plan on attempting to make a change in your life, to become more genuine, some of the people in your life are going to look at you like you're crazy. And there's no need to wonder because I'm telling you right now,  they'll be thinking it too. They also might begin to hate you. But hey, let 'em hate. In my opinion, if that happens... you're doing something right.

I know that I can be phony sometimes, so one of my main goals for this summer is to become a more genuine person. I'm going to smile at people and mean it, be happy for the people around me when they find happiness, cry when I empathetically feel someone else's pain, laugh when something is seriously beyond funny, and let other people know what's on my mind when they piss me off. I'm going to do all of these things, even if there is not another person around me who is doing so.

Because the thing is, when you live a genuine lifestyle, you live without regrets. And there's nobody who's living on this Earth that doesn't want that.