The Unique That Is You

Have you ever been in a place where you feel that you don't belong? I know I have (many times).

 It started when I was small. My parents moved me from my tiny town to a broken city in MI. Although it wasn't until middle school I experienced prejudice for the first time. I was a tall, skinny white girl that developed early with a big nose. I was constantly made fun of until I decided "if I cant beat em', join em'"

 I added self tanner to my pale skin, braided my hair tightly, lined my lips in brown eyeliner and lined my eyes like a cat with black. I wore baggy close, pretended to smoke Newport cigarettes, talked a lot of trash and purposely got into trouble to go to detention. I was a good girl that got good grades and very insecure but being my nice self wasn't going to work in this school unless I wanted to get bullied. It was then my super "chameleon power" developed. I learned how to adapt to any environment (and I've moved a lot) by blending in . At least that's what I thought.

The truth is I seem to stick out like a sore thumb where ever I go. Eventually I learned to harness that by being a performer. Which is great however being a performer came with a whole new set of confrontations. Like, "How do I stand out from the rest of the unique performers so I get the job?"
 Which is interesting because we are already a group of people that stand out in a crowd but when gathered together we have to look even more "original". Which in return a person can find themselves very lost in who they are and the soul searching begins again.

My whole life seems to have been a battle to fit in while all the while rebelling that notion. Talk about an oxymoron!

But here's the real deal. Not everyone is going to like you. Some people may even be vindictive to you along the way. There will always be someone gossiping about you and you cannot please everyone. There are always going to be others that disagree with your point of view and there will always be people that want to see you fail. Yes this can hurt feelings but in the end you are the ultimate judge of yourself and most of the time our inner judge is way worse than anyone else can be.

We hear this as children.. Just be yourself. Unfortunatly that can get lost in translation as we grow into young adults trying to find our way and feel accepted. Even grown adults struggle with this. We all want to be accepted with open arms and feel loved. No matter what gender, race, or cultural background.

So next time you feel you don't fit in remember underneath it all we all suffer and we all want love. Therefore you fit in perfectly. So let your uniqueness shine bright no matter where you are. Give what you have to give and honor the uniqueness and light in others even if their actions or words seem to be poisonous. Any time a person lashes out it's because they too are hurting and if that person is you... forgive yourself, show yourself love and start over.



I'm not going to lie to you. All of this is much easier said than done. It's a practice just like yoga. We will all fall especially when trying something new. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
We are all inherently imperfect perfect beings. Just keep practicing and being the uniqueness that is you!