This I Believe Pre Draft

Who is your best friend? What would you share with them? Would it be a secret about your love interest or your insecurities that you may have at that time? While some people have a strong relationship like this, others do not and tend to hold a lot of their emotions inside and only show a few feelings that lie on the surface. I understand the feeling of wanting to hide your emotions. In middle school, I would barely speak as I did not want anyone to dislike me. I was so focused on how others viewed me that I did not express myself and it ate away at me. I thought I was fine, but I slowly realized that it was the reason I was so upset. I tried to leave this mentality of trying to please everyone, but it was so difficult. Any time I tried to speak up and express what I truly thought, I would shut down at any comment that someone suggested they disagreed with me. I needed a method of being able to express these feelings. These feelings of insecurity have been built from a world of competition. With the world becoming more global, opportunities are even more limited and it creates this environment where everyone grows up with the mentality of “you versus the world”. While it is healthy to try and strive to the best you can be, it can also cause people to feel like they will never achieve anything. This leads to insecurity and it plagues the youth as they are worried that they will not fit in. The biggest problem is that no one addresses the issue so people are led to deal with this on our own. I was one of these people but once I got into high school, I began to express myself more. My friends and I began driving to different places after spending time together and this is when I realized car rides were my area of comfort. While it seems so simple, it was special because we are so focused on getting home after a long day that we let our guard down. Thus, I could talk about any insecurities or problems that I had and I got genuine feedback and support. I slowly built a playlist that I would play during every car ride and it helped me let my guard down more. Why did I tell you this story? Every time I had a deep conversation with my friends, not only did I become closer, but I began to love myself. I realized that if I had friends that could love me, then I must be worth caring for. As I gained compassion, I began flourishing in other parts of my life along with spreading the compassion. I have learned to dance to class for no apparent reason because there is no reason not to and everyone has their own unique expression inside somewhere. People need compassion not because it is nice to have friends, but it helps them express themselves to who they truly are. The method will be different for everyone, but after you will no longer worry about judgement and people can show who they truly are in public. It will make the world more colorful and each of us has a job to show compassion and help people show their true selves.