Hello everyone and welcome back to this month’s motivational article! This week we will be discussing the importance of prioritizing/being yourself and the benefits of alone time.

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“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” —Lucille Ball

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Prioritizing Yourself: 

As teenagers, every single decision we make is based on other people. These decisions could range from what you wear to school to even your interests/attitudes. We all live in this world where we want to “fit in” and conform to what everyone else is doing, and during this we often lose our true self.

However, your life can absolutely change when you truly understand these two ideas:

-You can’t please everyone.
-What other people think about you is not any of your business. 

At the end of the day, everyone has different opinions, preferences and attitudes. Not a single person is the same. 

Let’s put this idea into a perspective that is a bit more understandable. 

Say you’re out to eat with someone and you both order this new meal. Now, you try the food first and you absolutely love it. In fact, you could confidently say it is one of the best things you have ever eaten! Now, the person you are with tries the food but they have a different reaction. They immediately spit the food out, gag, chug their drink and yell that it was the worst thing they have ever eaten. 

Though you both ate the same meal, there were two different reactions. The meal was able to satisfy you, but not your friend. 

Now, I brought upon this analogy because it shows in a more realistic way how it is truly impossible to please every single person. The meal remained the same for both people, meaning the only difference was in the reactions. The issue is not the meal itself, it is the person trying the meal. When you talk to someone, each person is going to react in a different way because we are all different. The important part is, like the meal, you do not change to please everyone else. 

Say the chef decided to change the seasoning on the meal. Then, it is possible your friend would like the meal more, but maybe you wouldn’t. Any slight change could cause a completely different reaction.

Now, instead of trying to alter everyone’s opinions on you, you should instead work on pleasing yourself. At the end of the day, you are the one living with yourself. You’re not going to be living with that one kid in your history class, who laughed at you, for the rest of your life. So they judge you for a minute, what matters is that you are your true self. Don’t look back on your life wishing you could have spoken up more, look back and be happy with what you’ve done. 

Furthermore, it doesn’t matter what other people think about you. If someone wants to laugh at you or give you dirty looks, it is just a reflection on themselves. Plus, that reaction is only a moment in your life that will eventually be completely forgotten. The people making you scared to be yourself are truly insignificant to you in the long run and don’t deserve to even be in your thoughts. Surround yourself with people who are accepting of who you are. Once you do that, finding your true self will be astronomically easier. 

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Alone Time: 

Along with the idea of being yourself, in order to fully prioritize your own needs you must be alone sometimes. 

Spend time reflecting on your life, meditating, journaling and doing other self-care activities mentioned in my previous articles. It’s not your job to be everyone else’s therapists, or help them through their problems. You need to focus on your own well-being before you can give your energy to someone else. 

Taking breaks from social media, even going “off the grid” for a little can be good for you. 

Our lives are so tied to social media, and we constantly compare ourselves to the people we see on our fyp or feed. This can truly harm mental health and make you feel down on yourself. This is why taking those little breaks to focus on yourself can make a large difference in your life. 

So, spend time alone, in your room, focusing on yourself. No matter how much society wants to program us to think being social is “normal” for a teenager, everyone needs that moment to really reflect on themselves and get better. 

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This month’s main takeaways are that: 

-Being alone is OK

-Prioritizing yourself is more important than trying to fit in. 

-Everyone is different, and you can’t impress every single person. 

-Take time to love yourself. 

That is all for this month! Thank you so much for reading this article and I hope everyone has a great April! Take this month to focus on yourself, improve your mental health, and be you! See you next month! 🙂