Dear World, 

     Growing up I was always different. People wanted me to act "normal", but normal is just an idea humans have. At some point, to be passive aggressive, I would act like myself more and more.

     So many humans try to blend in so that they aren't noticed or thought of as weird. This just makes the world boring. Everyone in the world is different, we're raised differently, have different personalities, and so much more. We don't want people to think badly of us so we hide. We hide behind a facade of normality.

     But this is a story about me disposing of this facade. A little story that I hope will open the eyes of others.

     I once asked my family why people hang around me, why some won't leave me. My mother and sister told me that there's something about me that attracts people. They said that I'm real and open. I'm someone who doesn't care what others think. Someone who is open to what others think and have to say.

     I recently made a new friend. After a couple of days of knowing him, he told me something interesting. He said, "You're different. You don't judge people by their looks. You judge them by their personality and character. You wait to get to know them before you judge."

     What he told made me think. It made me think about why I did that and if I really did. Then I started thinking about those who I had previously made friends with. I realized that I made friends who are smart, caring, funny, and so many more great things. The most important thing about my friends is that they are different.

    I never thought that what I was doing was weird, but others do. I wear pants in the middle of summer, I wear onesies, and just other things that others think as weird. At some point, I decided to just give on trying to conform to what people wanted me to be.

     Even though there is a lot of time ahead of me I don't think I will ever conform to what others want of me. I just always want to be me.

    This is my story about being different.

~ Princess Raiyne