Bond Family
Day 252.
One of the biggest emotional battles in life a teenager could ever face is choosing between being popular and being invisible. One way or another, all of us went through this phase and at one point, forced to make a choice. Most kids, based on my experience, choose to be popular because of the somewhat physiological and even psychotic desperation to belong. Some kids like me choose to fade in the background, stay quiet in one corner until graduation when everything will be over. What most people don't know is that those kids who choose to be in the "uncool crowd" secretly long for a little bit of visibility even if they usually curse those who teem with it. They really don't want to be literally popular. They just want to be seen.
I spent five years of my life as a teenager just blending in with the crowd. I just kept my head down and stayed out of everybody's way. I was invisible and I compensated that with trying to be one of the "brainiacs", those kids who never go to school unprepared and are often petted by teachers. I was a teacher's pet for some time and I loved it even if it meant doing extra favors that aren't really included in an average student's job description. Aside from the attention, I loved the appreciation. Finally, I knew I was doing something right, something that made other people happy aside from the ones biologically programmed to love me. Because of that, I was encouraged to go through the tough time that was high school and I made it. My most important takeaway is, I can say, one of my life's greatest lessons.
The truth is cliques don't exist. It just appears that they do because we create this illusion in our minds that people are divided and classified according to how they look and behave. I was able to prove this little theory of mine in college where I got to meet a whole new spectrum of people with different personalities and somehow get along and put up with one another's habits. They don't necessarily look the same or act the same. It all went down to common interests and dislikes. No conformity. No pressure. Just a natural feeling of coming together like fitting two puzzle pieces. In the last four years of my life as a student, I learned that you don't need to choose who you're going to be. You just need to be who you are and accept the fact that not everyone's going to be happy with it. It's just a matter of finding those people who think you're crazy and would still choose to be seen with you in public and in the long run, you'll call them your family not by blood but by bond. Not a crowd or a clique.
Right now, I'm officially feeling cheesy. I don't even have any idea how all these words got to me today. Maybe I was just inspired by my day today at work. Despite all the calls that nearly pushed me off my sanity, it's nice to know that there are people who are always ready to back me up and encourage me, people who'd never give up on me even after I've given up on myself. It's like having a whole family back there and the best part is, I don't feel forced to be something I'm not to fit in. Just like college.
To all my friends out there who get to read this entry, I miss you all.
I gotta go now. I think I'm about to cry.
One of the biggest emotional battles in life a teenager could ever face is choosing between being popular and being invisible. One way or another, all of us went through this phase and at one point, forced to make a choice. Most kids, based on my experience, choose to be popular because of the somewhat physiological and even psychotic desperation to belong. Some kids like me choose to fade in the background, stay quiet in one corner until graduation when everything will be over. What most people don't know is that those kids who choose to be in the "uncool crowd" secretly long for a little bit of visibility even if they usually curse those who teem with it. They really don't want to be literally popular. They just want to be seen.
I spent five years of my life as a teenager just blending in with the crowd. I just kept my head down and stayed out of everybody's way. I was invisible and I compensated that with trying to be one of the "brainiacs", those kids who never go to school unprepared and are often petted by teachers. I was a teacher's pet for some time and I loved it even if it meant doing extra favors that aren't really included in an average student's job description. Aside from the attention, I loved the appreciation. Finally, I knew I was doing something right, something that made other people happy aside from the ones biologically programmed to love me. Because of that, I was encouraged to go through the tough time that was high school and I made it. My most important takeaway is, I can say, one of my life's greatest lessons.
The truth is cliques don't exist. It just appears that they do because we create this illusion in our minds that people are divided and classified according to how they look and behave. I was able to prove this little theory of mine in college where I got to meet a whole new spectrum of people with different personalities and somehow get along and put up with one another's habits. They don't necessarily look the same or act the same. It all went down to common interests and dislikes. No conformity. No pressure. Just a natural feeling of coming together like fitting two puzzle pieces. In the last four years of my life as a student, I learned that you don't need to choose who you're going to be. You just need to be who you are and accept the fact that not everyone's going to be happy with it. It's just a matter of finding those people who think you're crazy and would still choose to be seen with you in public and in the long run, you'll call them your family not by blood but by bond. Not a crowd or a clique.
Right now, I'm officially feeling cheesy. I don't even have any idea how all these words got to me today. Maybe I was just inspired by my day today at work. Despite all the calls that nearly pushed me off my sanity, it's nice to know that there are people who are always ready to back me up and encourage me, people who'd never give up on me even after I've given up on myself. It's like having a whole family back there and the best part is, I don't feel forced to be something I'm not to fit in. Just like college.
To all my friends out there who get to read this entry, I miss you all.
I gotta go now. I think I'm about to cry.
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