Article January 13, 2014 Issue

Standing out or 'shining'?

Hannah Hathaway

I’d always thought that in order to be beautiful you needed to be skinny, have a pretty face, long hair, and, most important, be able to fit in.

Throughout my life, I was OK with being unique and not following the status quo. I have always been the outgoing, try-it-all, sporty person. From preschool to the beginning of my seventh grade year, I didn’t give much thought to others’ opinions of me and what I wore. But in seventh grade I was trying to figure out who I was and who my true friends were. I started to change in small ways.

As the school year went by, I felt as if I didn’t recognize myself. For example, I started wearing jean shorts instead of soccer shorts, sparkly tops instead of T-shirts, and makeup. While there‘s nothing wrong with these things in and of themselves, the change didn’t feel genuine to me. It felt like I was molding myself to fit into a society where I’m supposed to get lots of attention and stand out. It just didn’t feel right.

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