This one’s for you, my little sister in Christ. Yeah, you, who doesn’t feel like you fit in with everyone else (or at least most people). You, who doesn’t feel like you’re enough. Cool enough, fun enough, pretty enough, loud enough, quiet enough, smart enough, interesting enough…
Yeah, I was you once. I know how it feels to feel different from those around you. It feels like people just don’t get you. It feels like you are a part and yet still apart from your friends. You’re involved, but at times feel like you’re standing on the edge of the circle, just barely hanging on.
Everyone else seems to have all the cute guys interested in them. But you? You’re just there, by yourself, feeling like you’re watching everyone else get their happily ever after. Nevermind the fact that you already know that relationship you’re observing might not last; in the moment, that hardly matters. You’re still alone and they still have someone.
I know how it feels to feel different, awkward, left out, or misunderstood. I understand. Thank God I have loving and encouraging people in my life that spoke positive things into me while growing up, so I didn’t suffer with self image issues as much as some, but I still had my low points. Far too many nights spent crying into my pillow… Feeling less than, thinking maybe there was something wrong with me, wondering why I wasn’t as popular or sought after by the guys as other girls. At times, it was a light shadow following me around, and other times, a crushing weight on my spirit. I thought my confidence was strong, but then a new rejection would come and it would crumble before my eyes. Even now, I can clearly remember those moments as if they happened yesterday.
Thankfully, though, those days are gone. I learned a valuable truth, and what I wish I could go back in time to tell my teenage self—and what I am trying to tell you today—is that it’s OK. It’s OK if you’re not like them. It’s OK if you don’t fit in with certain crowds. It’s OK if you don’t have a flock of “friends” everywhere you go. It’s OK if not every guy likes you.
God made you exactly the way He wanted you to be. Those quirks you think everybody thinks are weird? Yeah, He made those. Those interests that none of your other friends are interested in? He gave you those. That personality that doesn’t seem to fit with the crowd your friends like to hang with? Yep, He gave you that, too. Everything from your laugh, to your hair color, to your height, to your favorite foods, etc., etc., etc… He formed that in His divine imagination and put them all together to create you. Unique and wonderful YOU!
It’s OK if you’re not like everyone else, because that’s the way God made you. Who are you to say He made you wrong? Own who you are. You do you and learn to love every moment of it! Life is far too short and far too precious to spend it wallowing in self-loathing and insecurity. You’ll make your life miserable if you never learn to love who God made you to be. Even now, I have my moments of feeling awkward and not understood by others. The things I’m passionate about are in the minority of what others are also passionate about, so I know not everyone gets it, gets me. But I’m learning more and more not to be ashamed of how God made me, what makes me me. I am—and you are—never going to be just like everyone else, even those closest to us. And that’s ok. Shrug it off. Don’t worry if they think you’re weird. Learn to embrace and love the person God created you to be!
