The best label is your own

In a nutshell, humans are observers, and they make observations. Simple as that.

We learn early on that appearance is important and that we need to look nice or dress differently depending on the occasion.

The older we get, the more we think about what we’re wearing, what we shave or about putting makeup on.

Middle school comes around, followed by high school, then college.

As we enter our teenage years, we start noticing more things, our appearance being one of them.

People generally take different approaches to this issue. In general, there’s no wrong way to do it. Various people take different things and do different things with them.

I entered my sophomore year of high school having known nothing but what I’d learned from home-schooling since kindergarten.

I attended a private school: a place that had no shortage of your average wealthy teenagers armed with Jeeps, the newest smartphones and brand-name clothing.

To say I ended up feeling out of place, what with my keypad phone and tennis shoes I’d been wearing since seventh grade, would be a bit of an understatement.

There weren’t that many students, and practically all of them had known each other since elementary school, so that didn’t exactly help my situation.

Trying to fit into a situation where we don’t belong is a struggle many people face, especially in a society where everything goes by so quickly and you aren’t sure what you’ve missed.

After two years of trying really hard to find my niche, it finally clicked with me: I had no label to hold to my name.

I didn’t play sports. I wasn’t a science whiz. I liked to draw and paint, but I wasn’t great at it. I liked Fleetwood Mac as much as Lana del Ray.

College now has become a safe haven.

It’s a place where fashion doesn’t have as much sway in someone’s impression of you as it might have in the recent past.

People always are going to think of you a certain way, and part of that may have to do with what shoes you’re wearing.

However, I have never been more comfortable in my own skin than when I’m walking around campus.

It doesn’t mean that I think people won’t think badly of me; it just means that I know there’s nothing they can do about it.

I’ve found my label, and my label is “ME.”