Seeing Doubles

Growing up, from about 6th grade until I was a sophomore in highschool, I struggled with self confidence and a major identity crisis. Seeing the amount of selfies I post now you would never know haha I remember at one point the most "popular" girl in 6th grade always wore a basic basic black hoodie so I begged my mom to buy me one from the swapmeet and I wore it EVERYDAY for nearly a year! My parents intervened and hid the sweater...until I found it again. Then I saw she wore some really nice Adidas and, again, begged for my parents to buy them for me in hopes it'd make me popular too. When we went to the store they didn't have my size but I was so determined to have these specific ones that I got them in a size 10 when I actually was a size 6. My parents wanted me happy and if a size 10 shoe did that for me then who were they to complain. I stuffed socks inside so my feet wouldn't keep clunking out of them and to my surprise I didn't get popular...that actually started drawing attention to me negatively. After my rough start on the first day of middle school(showing up with a super cool rolly backpack with light up wheels and getting it kicked as I walked the campus so I carried it like a suitcase and lied to my mom that someone stole it because of the awesomeness so she'd buy me a basic backpack) this moment was the worst. My teeth had never been an issue, well they were really bad but I'd never thought about fixing them because in elementary people talked about recess not physical appearance. Ok enough with my awful side stories...well once I showed up with my massive clonkers people instantly started making fun of me and my "beaver teeth" and my "big forehead" that suddenly got put on the radar. Money was tight and I went home crying so often that my parents the superheroes sacrificed to afford braces for me.

Now that you have some insight on some of my school years, if I could tell my younger self anything, it'd be to get into prayer sooner and realize I didn't have to try so hard to be like anyone else. You can be yourself, wear what you can afford and the right people who belong in your life wont even care. Once I "found" myself and became confident in who I was it would ANNOY the living crap out of me when I'd see someone copy me. I mean, I wasn't some super hot shot back then but for class projects that actually involved some imagination mine would be stellar then the next day someone would practically have copied it all! Or when I'd think my outfit was pretty rockin that day and my sister would show up two days later wearing my exact outfit! She's my best friend now, so I dont care if we copy each other. We both look good ;) Ugh as Im writing this I feel like Im going on a million side stories but I promise this post has a point haha

Obviously Im over that phase, thank GOD! But today I was in my explore page on Instagram and came across a really cool blogger mama. That led me to her blog; Love Taza. Instantly started following her, duh! Then I remembered reading a blog of someone I knew, much smaller scale than that of Love Taza, and went back to it. I opened up both side and was stunned at how much the smaller blog(which will not be named) copied the bigger one(Love Taza) and NO CREDIT was given!! Honestly, the only difference was mere name changes and basic info/pics where applicable. Content wasn't as good but who cares, the blog was a complete dupe without credit or a head nod to the originator. THAT annoyed me. I've heard the statement, "Imitation is the highest form of flattery". It's really not. It's a lack of creativity and a sign of laziness. I've been wanting to mention it but Im just like ok, you seem like a 6th grade Crystal. Whatever makes you feel better about yourself, even if you have to copy someone else, go ahead. One day you'll look back and laugh and realize that you didn't need to be like anyone else. Most people might not call you out or catch the similarities but someone will always know. Be original, be YOU and you'll have awesome readers soon! Readers who will want to read your unique content and not check your page to see what else you copied.