Stop Being Superficial, Start Being You

Being you... What does that mean to you?

To me, it means fully and entirely accepting you for who you are. It means realizing that nothing defines you: not your parents, not any organization, not even your friends.

Being you means completely loving yourself for how weird you are, how you aren't exactly perfect when you wake up, and how nothing can mean or take away the symbolization of your name. Your name is one of a kind; It is what people know you as, and whenever they hear this name, a personality ties into it. The importance of you and your name screams measures, as it is the one thing that can truly define who you are.

Finding yourself can be a tough journey, as it was for me. But I couldn't be happier to be more aligned with myself, not feeling as if I'm living a lie, and living in my OWN skin.

Below, I've listed some personal experiences on how this was possible for me. These experiences in no way are trying to ridicule anyone or anything, I'm simply just speaking personally.

Freshman year started for me, and it was an odd change. Things at home were changing, I was changing, and I didn't really know how to handle it.

I'm in the Luckyday program, which means I have to volunteer 20 hours a semester to keep my scholarship. In order to make sure I had opportunities to volunteer, I joined a sorority at my University.

Now, disclaimer here: I never would've thought I'd be a sorority girl. Ever. It was something very different for me. Getting out of my comfort zone, being around many people, it was something that I've never experienced before.

I went through the rush process, joined a sorority, and started a new chapter in my life. I met a bunch of great people, had great times, and experienced new things.

As time went on, I started becoming this sorority. I would put stickers of the letters everywhere, I would wear things that had these letters on them, and I was happy to be labeled as being in this sorority.

Soon enough, I realized that I was showing off these letters and this "title" for the wrong reason. I felt accepted in this group, and even though I initially joined to volunteer, it became much different for me than that.

I was dressing differently, acting differently, and being

consumed with what I thought was the ideal image of me. I've taken the true meaning of the sorority and corrupted it into what I thought it really meant. The date parties, the dressing up, and the girly girl sorority life as if it were on TV.

I cared about what I looked like more than really anything, I had to post pictures of every event to show everyone just what they're missing out on, and I had to make sure I looked the best anywhere I went. Something happened to me, and I was just now realizing it.

There were many instances where I would contemplate hard on dropping. I truly felt disconnected with myself, and I didn't know how to change that.

It felt wrong, and it wasn't me.

As time passed, I started getting more involved with yoga and started doing more things that I wanted to do. Working out, hiking, being surrounded by motivating people, practicing breathing exercises, and truly connecting with myself. It was then when I realized I needed to do things for me.

I made a huge change in my life, and I honestly couldn't be happier. I'm finally me again. I don't worry about what I look like anymore, I wear what I wanna wear, and I am my own person. I am so happy.

The purpose of my story isn't to discourage you from being in a sorority or make you scared to join one. The purpose of this is to remind you to always be in tune with yourself. Never let something or someone define who you are, and stop caring about what people think. You are you, and you should embrace that.

Without the pictures, the clothes, the labels, what message do you bring? What do you represent as a human being? If you can't answer that, make a change and start leaving a message.

Thank you guys so much for reading this post; it means so much to me. I hope this post has helped in some way for you, and I'm so thankful to be able to share my experiences with you in order to help others also reconnect with themselves.

Stay Loving and Kind, My Friends.

XOXO,

Hannah