Going to college
means not getting to see some of your best friends as often as you’d
like which is both a great thing and a sad thing at the same time.
Great because it gives you the opportunity to branch out and connect
with new, amazing people and sad because you miss your friends and
you wish you could be sharing some of these new experiences with
them. But you still find time to see each other when you are on break
or when you’re both home for a weekend. So one of my best friends,
who just happens to also be the founder of SSS, gets done with school
much earlier than I do so she stayed at my apartment for a weekend
recently and we had so much fun. I learned a wonderful lesson the
first night she was there. We stayed in and simply talked and planned
the rest of the weekend that night but I had so much fun and laughed
so much more in that one night than I had in a while.
The reason that I was laughing so hard
all night was because she did not have a filter that night. She was
being herself completely, saying and doing what she wanted. She
wasn’t holding back and I loved it.
I realized in those moments how
beautiful friendships can be. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to
have the freedom to be yourself completely without fearing judgement
from another person. You know that they will still love you and care
about you even if you do something silly.
The question that this situation
brought up for me was this: Why can’t we be who we are with
everyone? Why do we hide our authentic selves from the world?
I think the answer is that we fear
rejection and judgement. We are afraid of saying or doing the wrong
thing but the problem with that is that oftentimes we end up hiding
who we really are when we shouldn’t. We should be our authentic
selves with everyone. And while it’s true that you will clash with
certain people, you will be able to make deeper connections with the
right people and make them more quickly if you don’t try to be
different or only show certain sides of yourself. Not only that but
you will feel more alive if you choose not to hold back who you are.
Ciara is one of the most beautiful
people I know and just being her friend teaches me ways that I can be
a better friend to others and how amazing life can be when you choose
to be yourself regardless of what others may think of you.
So Sparklers, don’t be afraid to be
your authentic selves. You are all uniquely beautiful and the world
will be a brighter and more wonderful place if we all learn to stop
hiding behind the walls we have let our fear build around us.
-Ashley
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