Staying Inside the Lines

When you are young, you are taught that you can be whoever you want to be. Follow your dreams! Don't be afraid to be who you really are! As you grow older however, you are expected to be just like everyone else.

Where does this change come? At what point is it decided that since you are no longer young enough, you can't dress a certain way, think a certain way, or have fun like you used to? No more dressing in cute clothes, you have to dress sexy. No more playing, daydreaming or pretending, imagination is to childish for you now. When you turn eighteen, do your interests magically change into something more "mature" and socially acceptable? No. And it sounds ridiculous to think they do, doesn't it?

Of course your tastes will probably change as you grow older. You will lose interest in certain things and gain interest in others, that's only natural. But what if someone still likes a lot of the things they used to as a little girl? Is that so bad? Does it really make them immature to still have their collection of stuffed animals, or enjoy climbing trees, or playing with dolls, or dressing like one? In my opinion, maturity is being able to take responsibility for yourself and having respect for others, not having interests that are considered mature by the rest of society. You can be a perfectly mature adult, and still love the things you did when you were a child. It does not mean you are living in a fantasy world, it means you are exactly who you want to be. Who says you have to lose the imagination you had when you were a kid? Who says you have to give up on having fun, or following your dreams, or even just dressing the way you want to?

I don't care if you are one hundred years old, there is no reason you shouldn't be able to follow your dreams and do what you want to. Anyone who says otherwise is probably just bitter that they themselves don't have the courage to do what they want. It's easy to give into what society wants you to be, to fit into that little cookie cutter mold that they want you to fit into, it's hard to be who you are in a society that shuns anything and anyone who is different from them. It takes real courage to not give up and to stand up for yourself and what you believe. Could you truly be happy living a lie by not being who you really are? It may be the easier way... but it will never make you happy.

No one has the right to tell you who to be, how to dress, or what to think. In the end, that's up to you.


Love, Amelia Jane.