by Roderic Williams

Created on: November 02, 2009

Oftentimes we reach a point where we base how we feel about ourselves on what other people say about us. When did it become acceptable for someone else's validation to overrule your own? And yet, we all do it, we get upset because someone said something that was hurtful to us, whether it's true or not. In reality, only one person's opinion of you should matter and that's your own. That's why we have people who everyone else thinks is "unattractive" getting the attention of anyone they choose; it's because beauty if in the eye of the beholder, and that eye should be your own. People tell themselves that they're attractive and lo and behold, other people start believing it too. If you can portray something convincingly enough, you can get anyone to believe anything.

The keyword is Confidence. Confidence goes a long way, I mean, even Steve Urkel ended up with Laura Winslow in the end because he was confident in himself no matter how many people put him down. One thing that happens is that people get discouraged with being who they are, so they try to be someone else. The thing is though, you can't be anyone but yourself. You were made the way you are for a reason and that makes you unique. Don't try to get breasts like Pamela Anderson, that's her role in life, not yours. I've learned to accept my flaws and continue to be confident in who I am as a person. I know that I'm shy, can't dance, I worry, and I'm nearsighted. I can come to terms with these things and still love myself for what I do have and what I can accomplish. Not everyone is born to be a star in the NBA or a ballroom dancer, but people are here for a purpose. We have to accentuate our positives and stop focusing so much on the negatives.

Apparently originality is dead, people are so consumed with being someone else or being just like someone else, that they forget who they are in the process. I remember when people were like snowflakes, no two of them were alike, but now people see a snowflake that has a better design on it or is a little bigger than them, and they go through all this grief to change themselves to be something that they're not. It's easy to step out of your house and pretend to be someone else, but it takes courage to step out of your front door as yourself and walk back in your front door as yourself.

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