We've all been there. Wanting to ‘blend in’ with the common crowd: not too loud, not too quiet, not too expressive, not expressive enough-Just right. But when did blending in become the right way to live?
We change the way we talk, the way we look and even the way we present ourselves. In fact, 41% of teenagers feel pressured to fit in socially daily. All these illusory expectations put into place by a society where everyone is attempting to do the same thing: fit in.
You may alter your choices to align with the ‘right crowd’ but somewhere along the way you begin to lose your essence. Your individuality. Your identity. The little things that make you, you.
What we don’t is that everyone is only concerned about what they’re doing that they barely have the time to judge you. Whilst you’re replaying a comment you made in class, wondering if it was ‘the right thing to say’ someone else is doing the exact same thing. So why not say it? Why not be a little loud? Why not be you? realise
Because whilst we fear standing out, we are also drawn to those who are different: there’s something magnetic about the ones who blur the illusion of fitting in. Perhaps,
it’s as if they remind us of something we once buried within ourselves
Not the person you feel like you have to be, but the person you are.
Sources:
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2025/03/13/pressuresteens-are-facing/
Ariana Nawab