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It’s Hard Not to Be Yourself

By Logan Béasse, Grade 11
During my years in high school, I’ve always felt like there was some mystical force pushing me to follow what’s normal and popular in society.
I would try fitting in with the clique students from my grade and tried to enjoy the interesting rap melodies about straight men having intercourse. I even forced myself to believe that I was straight and not bi because religion said if you’re anything else, it’s a no-no. These struggles were annoying, and it wasn’t really until last year’s rugby trip to LA that I really brought out the good that was inside of me all this time. Anyway, I’ve learned through many trials and hardship how to be the person that I am today. But to be yourself. What does it even mean to be yourself?

This can mean many things, but to be your true self, you can’t allow social norms to put you down or to pressure you to follow. It changes who you are, not always in a bad way, but it does change you.
In high school, speaking as a teenager, I know that we try to fit into groups. Acceptance is extremely important for us because it’s not fun to be excluded from society. For example, people want to fit in in the lounges and the hockey guys want to fit in with “the boys.” We feel as though we want to join the group, do and be like the rest of them. We sit at the farthest possible seat in the classroom to fit in. We laugh at jokes instead of making them, just to fit in. This is the majority of students in high school. To me, it’s sad. If life were to give everyone a lemon and we all made lemonade, the only have thing we would have is lemonade, very boring lemonade. However, if people truly expressed themselves in their own light, we might have more than just lemonade. Someone might use them to make a battery, some might want to play catch with their lemons, some might even want to make a pie.

In our houses, we are fine—well, in Bugbee at least. We’ve become comfortable with the environment and our roommates, we are ourselves. But when we are outside, we may act differently. As if we were feared to be judged by others. At least for me that’s how I used to feel all the time when I first came here.
Breaking the chains and realizing that your uniqueness is unique, realizing that nobody is really going to judge you, or at least tell you anyway, and knowing that who you are is beautiful… is how to truly be yourself.

So, go on out there, be your beautiful selves, and have a lovely day.
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