Be Yourself

High school, unlike my car, goes by very fast, I know you probably hear it from everyone else in every commencement speech on the face of the earth. It feels like just yesterday I walked into Oak Hill High School on my first day 4 years ago, I was so nervous. If you know me, you would know that I had always kind of struggled to make and keep friends.I never really fit into any specific group, I was known, but I was not liked. After 8th grade my closest friend had just started at a new school and I didn’t think I was gonna have any close friends. That’s when I walked into Mrs. Chick’s English 1 class and saw none other than Carter Leach, sitting by himself, in normal freshman year Carter Leach fashion…So I took the chance to sit with him. I never thought that sitting with a little quiet Carter would change the course of my high school career, but it did.

Most people will talk about how you guys should “be more social” or “don’t be scared to meet new people”,however, I want to talk about the less talked about topics. Now even though I had made a good friend, I wanted more, and that’s when the dumb decisions started. I began hanging around the wrong people, and they were AWFUL influences. I was starting to act like someone I wasn’t, just to fit in with people, and they weren’t even good people to be around! When I say the worst thing that you could wish for is to “fit in”, I MEAN IT! Trying to fit in is only tiring, you won’t get anything out of it, and basing yourself off of someone else is how you lose yourself. Like Daijohn Davis said, “I had to stop comparing myself at the end of the day, I’ll be me I aint gotta be nobody else”. He’s right STOP TRYING TO BE SOMEONE YOU’RE NOT! Take it from me, it does nothing for you or the people around you.

If you have to change who you are just to fit in with a “friend” group or stereotypical “high school clique”, then they don’t like you, they like who you are trying to be. Trying your hardest to be someone you are not is nothing but emotionally, mentally, and physically draining. It can mess with everything: school, work, family, and more. I will admit it, I was very, VERY dumb, and the people around me actually got me in trouble inside and outside of school. Not only did it get me in trouble, the person I was my freshman year has followed me through all of my high school years. Some people still know me as the person that I convinced them I was, and it can hurt, seeing how much work I’ve put into myself to get better and be my own person. It makes it seem like all of the work and time I had put in wasn’t worth it because people still saw me as the loser that I was my freshman year. However, I pushed through, keep pushing, you’ll make it. Don’t let people defy you. Be yourself and don’t give up. Do it for Isaac, he’d be proud seeing all of us graduating.

If you take anything away from my speech at all, take away the reason why you should be yourself. Take away the fact that being “weird” isn’t bad, it’s simply just being different, which is what you should want. Take away the downsides to trying to fit in. Take away that “normal” is not being someone else. Take away that you should not lose the real you just so you can fit in. Take away that it definitely does matter who you surround yourself with. Take away that your real friends will reveal themselves to you if you just be who you are. Take away that being popular doesn’t mean anything at all. Take away that you NEED to BE YOURSELF. Thank you all, for your time.

“Apples – Stand out” by flazingo_photos is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.