STAND OUT IN THE CROWD

As a child and a young teenager, I would always follow the fashion trends in the hope of fitting in with the other girls. I always wanted to try my own style, but I never had the courage to be that girl who didn't follow the trend. I always used to look at the girls who were unique and wish I was like them. In fact, I still do that now. I love to see people making their own fashion, it gives me a sense of liberation. It makes me feel like I can be myself and fly free from the comfort bubble of fashion. It gives me proof that I am the only me, and I have the chance to express who I am through what I wear. Thank fully, I wasn't one of those people who spent extortionate amounts of money on shoes and clothes, but I did follow the trends, usually if I liked them. I wish I had allowed myself more freedom as a child, because as your grow older, people find their own fashion anyway. I wish I hadn't made myself follow the fashion, when it wasn't really me.

There have been many events that have shaped who I am today. I am definitely proud of where I have ended up and I am excited about my future. Of course, not everything is perfect and we cannot always have the best of everything. We have to accept that life isn't perfect and that we all go through suffering. But, everything that happens in our life happens for a reason. It may not always be good, but there's always a reason for it. That is something I have believed for the majority of my life, it helps me to accept the bad things that happen to us all.

I guess I decided to write this post to challenge those of you who tend to follow the crowd with fashion. I challenge you to find an item of clothing that you like that isn't necessarily 'in fashion' right now. Wear something that represents you as a person and allow yourself to feel free from the metaphorical ties of fashion. It is the first step in finding your own fashion, and a small part of beginning to find who you are as a person. 

I have to admit that it was a challenge alone to take these pictures. I hate busy places and town is always busy. Taking these pictures meant being in the center of attention for a while, and I really wasn't confident with that. I guess you're wondering why I did it? Well I guess there was two reasons.

One being that I believe that this is one way to gain self-confidence - put yourself into a situation that you don't feel confident with, learn what it is that you aren't confident with and work on that. I also hoped that taking some pictures of myself may boost my self-confidence slightly. I do really like this outfit and I am beginning to accept that I look okay in it; obviously not perfect. I think that is a problem for many people. We want to see perfection, but that is never going to happen. We all have our flaws and we must remember that we manage to manipulate ourselves more than those around us. We see the flaws that no one else would notice.

The second reason is that I wanted to push through to show you all that it is possible to change something. It is because I believe that if I can do something that is out of my comfort zone, you can do it too. I actually managed to enjoy myself as you can see in picture 3 with my little smile seeping through! That is a great achievement for me. We are all amazing people and we can control our lives. We determine our futures and live how we want. It is up to you to change something.

So, this week, do something that is out of your comfort zone. Explore yourself as a person and let yourself be free. And as this cliche saying goes: "Be yourself, because everyone else is already taken."