Growing Up Different in Atlanta
“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” — John F. Kennedy (35 Inspiring Quotes for Kids)
When I was 5 years old, I fell in love with the city of Atlanta. I thought to myself, “I want to live in this big, beautiful city when I grow up.” Oh how naive I was to think that it was perfect. I was not aware of politics how played out in the real world and how Atlanta’s political stance would affect me and many others. Nor would I see how it would effect my relationships with my peers and myself.
Growing up I always wanted to be like everyone else. I wanted to be part of the “popular” group of people. What I really wanted was to be accepted by people and I was willing to pretend to be a fake version of myself to get status. I hated myself because I wasn’t like everybody else. If that doesn’t break your heart, I don’t know what will. Part of it was the school environment(and sometimes the home environment) I was in, all anyone ever told you was to live life in one way. If you didn’t live life in that particular way, you were immediately out casted.
The society and era I grew up in was most difficult for teenagers all around the world. Sometimes nonconformity could be so hard, because there is such a strong emphasis on similarity rather than diversity. But diversity is the future, society will be made of a rainbow of people within the next decade and hopefully in the decades after. You don’t have to agree with people’s choices, but you at least need to accept that it’s okay to stray from the norm. You can’t control what other people do, but you can control what you do. Just like all those years, I could not control what other people thought of me; what matters is that I love me and at the end of the day I’m satisfied with that.
After 4 years of psychology undergraduate studies, I realized how unhealthy this mentality is. It was not until sophomore year of college, I started to discover who I really was and started feeling happy again. I was starting to form my own beliefs and learning how to think for myself, this is something I should have learned from the age of 4. I think the society I grew up failed to acknowledge that it’s okay to not fit in. Being a suicide counselor I will make encourage all of my clients to be different and to be themselves, because living up to other’s lifestyles/expectations can lead to suicide. I wish my parents and teachers had encouraged when I was younger to be myself and showed me how to care less about being popular. Guess this was a lesson I had to learn on my own.
My message to parents/teachers/kids/teenagers/readers is to express yourself while you’re young, explore, don’t conform and form your beliefs based on what’s best for you. Do it before you become a copy of someone else, be a leader not a follower. As JFK said conformity is a prison and doesn’t allow opportunity for growth. Humanistic psychology would also point that individualism leads to true happiness, not conformity and social expectations. I hope my readers will decide that they would rather stand out than fit in, that’s why I write to give a gift of hope. Leaving Atlanta is the only way I will find true happiness, after everything it’s done to me I can’t continue to stay here. Here’s to what Kentucky and the rest of the world has to offer me…
References:
35 Inspiring Quotes for Kids About Being Different and Being Yourself. (2015, July 30). Retrieved from https://inspiremykids.com/2015/35-inspiring-quotes-for-kids-about-being-different-and-being-yourself/
