Stand Out

by Charlotte Collins (age 11)

I had heaps of friends, but I was still alone. I had everything, but I still had nothing. I tried to fit in, but I felt like an outcast. I didn’t know what I wanted. To stay popular and keep my friends, I just had to be like everyone else. 

I bought the same lipgloss, but I wasn't good enough. I wore the right clothes, but I wasn’t good enough. I grew my hair really long, but I still wasn’t good enough! I looked in the mirror. I saw a popular girl with really long hair in a midriff top, high heels and a short leather skirt, wearing a kilo of artificial makeup and way too many layers of sparkly lip gloss. But she didn’t look happy. She looked… sad. I was sad. 

I had lost myself. I had faded away. I looked into the mirror again. All I saw was a fake phony. I stared around my room. My teddies were gone. My art projects were gone. My toys were gone. They were replaced with posters of Tik Tok stars, fidgets and sweet-smelling beauty products. This wasn’t me. 

I pulled out a large brown box from under my bed. I carefully lifted off the lid and peered inside. I saw my favourite stripy shirts, my Winnie the Pooh teddy, my art projects and my toys. 

Suddenly, I felt a surge of rage creep inside of me. I was mad. I was furious! I had lost myself because I decided I had to be like everyone else. I’d had enough of pretending. I viciously tore one of the posters off my wall. It felt… Good. Satisfying. Incredible. I angrily ripped off the rest. 

I picked up Winnie the Pooh from out of the box. I gave him a tight squeeze. I placed him on my bed. Much better. I started to feel a bit more like me. I washed off my disgustingly horrible makeup and changed into my absolute favourite purple stripy top, my jeans and my runners. I felt happier. 

For the first time, I stopped caring about what anyone thought of me. It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I gained back my confidence, my courage and my creativity. And you know what? That was me, and I didn’t care if I didn’t impress the ‘populars’. I was myself, and that’s all that mattered.