My Greatest Fear
What I fear most is not knowing who I am. I don’t mean literally forgetting my own name, but I am scared of losing myself. In the society we live in, losing who you are is easy. There are so many ways to see society’s standards of who and what you should be.
Media’s Standards
The media in general shows how women should look, and it’s easy to find yourself trying to accommodate to society’s standards. I have always had an idea of who I wanted to be, and I never wanted to be the girl who would try to look or act a certain way because I thought people would like me more. However, I have been finding myself with certain habits that I never thought would be my own.
Real World Impact
Constantly being on Snapchat or my phone is definitely something I want to work on because I don’t want to be defined as the text message I sent or the Snapchat I posted. I want people to see me and judge me by the marks I leave on people’s hearts and the footprints I leave in the REAL WORLD. Not the made-up world often found these days on Instagram or Snapchat.
Self-Set Standards
Being that I have social anxiety, fitting in and making friends is hard in and of itself, but when society expects you to act a certain way it can be even harder when you find yourself wishing you were the image of perfection that we have programmed our minds to see. The standards I set for myself are the only ones I wish to live by. I want to progress in my faith, family life, friendships, and academics.
Personal Growth
Although I know that we mature and grow especially in our teenage years, I hope I never lose myself trying to be someone I’m not. And I hope we can all find ourselves trashing the impossible images we call “beauty” and becoming who we truly are because REAL BEAUTY has no definition.
About the Author
Samantha Ricciardo is a 15 year old student from New Orleans, LA. She spends her free time studying, hanging out with her family and friends, participating in dance team and learning to find her place in this big world. Samantha hopes to be a writer one day.
Samantha, you sound like a very bright girl and, although I understand your fears (especially in today’s world) it just sounds to me like you are going to be ok. The fact that you are thinking about who you want to be and are aware of challenges and opportunities in your future, means a lot. You are thinking for yourself. That is more than a lot of adults do nowadays. You should be proud.