Just Be Yourself by Tiffany

Just Be Yourself by Tiffany - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

The most important lesson that I have ever been taught by a teacher has been to just be yourself. In my senior year of high school, I spent months in class learning about Stanley Milgram experiments, conformity and its power and effects on people's everyday lives. In the time of me learning about Stanley Milgram, I also spent a lot of time learning about myself.
Learning more and more about conformity, I was astonished to find out how much I was conforming in my everyday life without my knowledge of it. I realized that all of the small things that I did daily were powered by conformity. Before learning about conformity I wouldn't think twice about not giving a homeless person money just because I didn't see anyone else giving or buying a pair of shoes that weren't particularly my taste just because they were popular at the time.
Upon these conclusions, I determined that I needed to change, that the world needed to change. I though intensively about what I could do bring about these changes. The answer was extremely simple yet so complex. All you have to do is be yourself. And that's exactly what I decided to do. And as a result I felt so much better about myself. Although I don't always fit in, I feel free to wear what I what, eat what I want, and ultimately do what I want.
Its been three years since I finished high school and I still think back to these lessons everyday. I am grateful for these lessons and grateful for the teacher that has taught me them. They have taught me how to break free of this metaphorical drug called conformity and taught me to feel free and just be myself. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson