Hello Lovelies,
It’s true, I was never the cool kid at school.
I wasn’t part of the “in” crowd.
I didn’t have all the name brand clothes that the “cool” girls had.
I didn’t wear makeup in an attempt to impress the b… actually I went to an all-girls high school, so I’m not sure who they were trying to impress.
Anyway, to make things ever better, I was in the school band. I play the flute… It was right around the time when the first American Pie movie came out… *cue Michelle Flaherty jokes.*
I liked to sing in the choir, I enjoyed the reading and writing assignments in English class, I suffered from a complete lack of coordination in PE (but somehow still managed to pass), yet still managed to be a bit of a class clown while maintaining pretty decent grades.
What I’m trying to say is, I never really fit in. I wasn’t nerdy enough to be with the super nerds, I wasn’t sporty enough to hang out with the Sporty Spice doppelgangers, not Emo enough for the Emos, not slutty enough (or at all actually) to hang out with the skanks… well you get the point.
Luckily I wasn’t the only one and through our lack of being able to easily “slot” into one of the categories of high school groupings, we formed our own friendship group. Our differences helped us to bond, we learnt through each others interests and pursuits and it was through our differences that we found common ground, heck we weren’t even all in the same grade, but somehow we managed to navigate the trials and tribulations that was high school, supporting each other through it all, appreciating each other for their individuality.
To the more popular girls in the school, we were all wrong, but to each other we were wrong in all the right ways.
“So raise your glass if you are wrong,
In all the right ways”
“Raise Your Glass”- P!nk
Sometimes it got to us. The popular girls sending endless filthy looks our way, the rolling of eyes, the talking behind our backs, but most of the time… we just didn’t give a f**k.
Yes, we likely dealt with the usual self-esteem issues, image-issues, self-loathing type of crap that comes with the teenager territory, but most of the time we were happy as ourselves and with each other. We were genuinely happy for each other when something awesome happened, whether it was a first kiss, a terrific grade on an assignment or getting a part-time job. We built each other up, encouraging each other to pursue their dreams, to reach for the stars, no matter what others (including the “cool” girls) thought.
And that’s the way it should be, embracing the different, encouraging others.
Somewhere along the line I lost that.
I began to think I had to change myself to fit inside the box.
Actually not just think, I did begin to change, I did begin to lose myself, to lose my identity, the things that gave me my individuality.
I was almost too late. It took me a while to realise what was happening. I was becoming one of those people who do things simply because it’s what’s expected of them.
I was becoming one of the people in the “Little Boxes”
“And the people in the houses all go to the university
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same
And there’s doctors and there’s lawyers
And business executives
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same”“Little Boxes” – written by Malvina Reynolds sung by Pete Seeger
It was seriously getting me down,
Professionally,
Creatively,
Personally.
I feel like I should be saying something like,
“Nobody puts Baby in the corner”
but that’s not quite what I’m going for here, instead I’m going to say don’t let anyone change you in order to fit into the “box”, even yourself.
So again, in the words of P!nk,
“So raise your glass if you are wrong,
In all the right ways,
All my underdogs,
We will never be never be, anything but loud
And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks”
So go out and be the best “you” that you can be.
Be the individual, even if it means that you’re not part of the “cool” group, at least you know you’ve been true to yourself.
Plus, being different is way more fun than fitting into the box!
So to all my fellow misfits, the ones that are wrong in all the right ways, I raise my glass!
Enjoy,
KK
© Katherine A. Kovács and The Writer Within, (2013-2018). Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Katherine A. Kovács and The Writer Within with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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