Teen Time: The true you

As we go through our teenage years, we are trying to find ourselves. Right now is definitely the time when things will become a crazy ride.
For now and the following years to come, we will be experimenting with our appearance, interests, activities and friends.
But along the way, we may tend to forget about who we really are. Don’t go off on a rampage and forget what you’re really like, because if you lose sight of who you are, then what are you really doing? Why change little things about yourself for someone else if you like your personality?
Acting like someone you are not is ridiculous. Why try to live a lie when you can be comfortable in your own skin? I think you can tell when someone is acting or pretending to be someone they’re not, because they can’t do it. No matter how hard you try to cover up your actions, you can’t.
When you pretend to like something or be someone else, it definitely changes you. If you change just to fit in with a group that you think is for you, think again. If you have to justify your personality to match your so-called “friends,” then you are only hurting yourself.
At the end of the day, it really matters how you view yourself. Do you like who you are? If you do, good; you are doing the right thing. If not, it’s never too late to change the little quirks that have occurred.
Being you is one of the most valuable things in the world. And the second you lose it, you have lost a big part of yourself and would probably do anything you could to get back to who you were.
I once heard that it doesn’t matter who you are friends with or what new things you want to do — none of that can influence who the true you is. Nothing can change you if you don’t want it to. So go ahead and try new activities and challenge your inner self, but never forget you.
Olivia Doherty, a seventh-grader at Scotts Valley Middle School, writes about issues facing middle school students today. Olivia can be reached through the Press-Banner by emailing pb******@pr*********.com.