What makes you different from others? Many people struggle to answer this question. It is the differences in each other that make us unique. We may have many things in common with each other, but there will always be one skill, one trait, one quality that sets us all apart.

College is a good example of this. In it, there are thousands of students of different ages and from various walks of life learning something they have taken an interest in. When you are choosing programs, you are faced with a long list of career options and you may skim through a few without taking interest, knowing that this particular program is not for you. However, it may be exactly what someone else wants and it’s because of this that we are able to have a functioning society. There are so many jobs and for each job there is someone who this job is for. We have doctors and dentists, teachers and chefs, engineers and business owners, garbage collectors and police officers and we all need each other but could not do each other’s jobs. I would not want my dentist making my food or Gordon Ramsey teaching my children. We are not all supposed to be great at the same things. Though society and its media encourage us to look alike and be alike, it actually needs us to be different and, more importantly, ourselves.

Too many people hide their true talents and skills, in fear that they will stand out too much as being “different”. They fear that they will end up unhappy, doing a job they don’t really like. We all seek acceptance in each other to the point that we lose ourselves and more or less put our true self away in a box, trying to mold ourselves to suit the desires of other people. Change or self-improvement is a good thing, IF you’re improving YOURSELF. Going to school, losing weight, building some muscle, changing your hair color, whitening your teeth – these are all fine things but they do not change the core of you. You are still you when you graduate; You are still you a few pounds lighter. These are only improvements on what you already are and it doesn’t change the true you inside.

It is so important to discover yourself and be yourself because society needs you just as you are. Realizing this will help you bloom and excel in things you are passionate about. It is easy to have things in common with people these days thanks, to media, trends and culture. It’s okay to have fun with those things, but don’t lose yourself in it and don’t let it consume you. For everyone’s sake, do not be something you are not.

The world doesn’t need another one of THEM. It needs just one of YOU.