Why it's okay to be unapologetically you

For years we are taught to be 'something' – I don't quite know what that something is, but whatever it is, we're supposed to be it. Skinny, blonde, happy, in love, curvaceous, intelligent – that something means something different to everybody. For most of our adolescence we're trying so desperately hard to be that something and in the end it can make us lose our true selves; but thus far in 2018, I've found myself, and it wasn't the something that I had once believed was my destined path...

We're brought up to want to be a certain person, living a certain life, in a certain way. The media, our parents, the people surrounding us and the generation that you're born into dictates this to us subliminally. Hundreds of years ago being a plump goddess would have been the aspiration for most girls – plump, round and destined to wed with King Henry the Eighth. A few decades ago being super slim like Kate Moss, with a boyish figure and a pale complexion would have been the aspiration for most teen girls. And for boys a few decades ago, being ripped, straight and amazing at football would have been the main goal (pardon the pun). It's funny how the somethings are constantly changing – but that's just the way it is. 

You don't need to be the something that you've been taught you need to be. Instead you need to be your own everything.

In this very moment, I'm happy with everything in my life. My friends, my family, my body, my daily routine and the future that's ahead of me. But I haven't always been this content. For most of my teenage years, probably from about age thirteen to age seventeen, I tried desperately hard to be the something I thought I was destined to be. I thought I was destined to be a slim, slender blonde, who had a prominent role within the 'cool' group at high school and who was the lucky, pretty girl who dated the hottest guy on the football team. Well, I was wrong. But I didn't think I was wrong at the time. Endless fad diets, long acrylic nails, a nose piercing and blonde highlights at the age of fourteen – all to get ahead, all to potentially be put on a pedestal within the 'cool' group at high school. It didn't work. None of it worked. But that's okay.

At the time it felt awful. Nothing I did seemed to get me in with the crowd I so desperately wanted to be in with. But deep down, I knew it wasn't who I wanted to be. I knew it wasn't who I was supposed to be. So after years of trying to be something I wasn't, I realised that something wasn't me. I finally broke out of the something and I finally became me. The me that wasn't just a something. The me that was and still is everything. 

In the last few years, I have realised that I am everything. I am the only person I can truly count on, I am the only person I can truly trust and I am the only person accountable for my happiness. I realised that being a something won't make me happy. But being my everything will. 

I have started to meditate and incorporate aspects of the Law of Attraction into my life. I breathe more deeply, smile more brightly and laugh louder and harder than ever before. I realised that being a perfect size 10 isn't the something I aspire to be. I realised that being curvaceous makes me happy, and I realised that intuitive eating is good for my mental health as well as my physical health and wellbeing.

I'm ready to be everything I want to be, instead of the something I once wanted to be

I'm excited to graduate from university in 2020, and I'm excited to start my journey within the journalism industry. I'm excited to eventually become the editor of Vogue one day, and I'm also excited to release my debut album. There's so much I want to do in my life and I'm ready to do it all. I'm ready to be everything I want to be, instead of the something I once wanted to be. 

I've also realised that I have a bubbly and sassy personality. I tend to say what I want and what I feel like needs to be said in certain situations. I have also realised I'm a true hopeless romantic and I'm on a journey searching for my one true love. 

I have realised that I'm destined to be a journalist, a singer, a songwriter, a storyteller, a fashion lover, a trendsetter, a hopeless romantic and well, just a kind-hearted soul. I'm meant to be me. I'm meant to be my very own everything.

I've learnt to not care what anybody thinks. I've learnt to be me. unapologetically me. And I honestly couldn't be happier. 

A little bit about my outfit...

My gorgeous ensemble comprises of a beautiful navy blue smock top, a stunning silver Hamsa Hand necklace and a beautifully bold tomato red cross-body bag – all three garments from Laundry B. I teamed these three pieces with light grey jeans from River Island and some pointed stiletto kitten heels by Jasper Conran. 

Thank you so much for reading this post. A post about being you – unapologetically. I hope you take away this message:

Don't be a something. Be an everything. Be your very own everything. And never alter your everything for anyone – your everything is YOURS.