DO NOT CONFORM

 

When you are told by your "friends" that you do not "belong", do not strive to belong. You will end up losing yourself at the end of the day. By losing yourself I mean your freedom to keep being you and expressing your self genuinely.

 I've been a teenager before and I can say that it is an age where your contemporaries who seem like "wild cats" would want to win you over to their sides by intimidation and mockery.

 ❌Don't give in. 

 

Look, I understand that as a teenager, you crave freedom like you crave your favourite snack but you must also know that true freedom as a teenager is not throwing away your home-instilled values to the bin to fit into a certain circle of friends. Instead, 

✔️it is exercising the power to hold up such values as a proud custodian such that in any sea of friends you find yourself in, you will be the captain of your ship, those values being your compass.

This is not necessarily to make your parents proud even though they would definitely be. This is to give you the control and mastery you crave.

♈If you give in to your contemporaries' intimidation and mockery because you desperately want to belong, guess what will happen? 

You will always depend on their tactics (intimidation and mockery) to make the next move in your life. Your validation and self esteem will depend on their approval and you will become a lab rat to them. 

You know what that means? You would have become a slave and sold your freedom without gain. 

🗨️Be open-minded, be flexible, be relational. However, always be ready for the 'wild cats' to excuse themselves from your own circle when they feel you do not belong to theirs.

PEACE ✌️