Walking down the street, an extravaganza of posters and billboards surround a developing person. With sayings metaphorically written within the symbols that scream “Do this, it’s cool” right through the canvas. Being in a society that is filled to the brim with propaganda and persuasion, a desire for popularity, and a sense of self that is not fully sure of itself, can make it extremely difficult to pin point the question of “Who am I?” Searching for yourself can come easier than your think, if you can remember that it is you. Not your friends, not the people you see on television commercials or your favorite show, it is you, yourself, who you personally are. Personal preferences, Ideas, Morals, etc. all play apart in you as a human being and what makes you different from all the others. Individuality is being tossed in the garbage dump of the communities, how do we reclaim our independent originality? The first step of realizing your uniqueness is positive thinking. If you have a poor mindset about yourself you will never have the strength to stand against the waves in the ocean of others opinions, and trust me, the tide is strong. Without the idea of confidence, and positive thinking towards yourself, you will be in a constant tug of war battle with yourself, slowly drifting a piece of yourself out to see whenever someone else can convince you to be them, and not you. Now, I am not saying that liking or agreeing with others opinions is a bad thing, I’m saying that if you constantly second guess yourself, you can get lost in another’s opinions or even their ideas of right and wrong. If you carry yourself in a way that your can feel comfortable with yourself and your decisions, you will not cave in to others. To battle losing yourself while surrounded by the influences of others, you must be confident within yourself that you know what you like, or what you think is good/bad. Even though this step is very important to walking up the stairs of individuality, there are plenty more to consider. Liking what you do is key to individuality. This is because if you dislike yourself, or what you think/do, you will want to change it and desperately leap at the chance to. Change is great now and again and maybe you changed your mind based on what others had believed and that is definitely acceptable, I am just saying that you should find things that you truly believe and that you truly have a passion for. Having that passion for yourself will keep you yourself and you will not fold under the pressure like a rock crashing down paper. Like what you do, don’t force yourself to like something that you really don’t have a drive for. Let yourself be yourself. This is a very important part of solving the problem of losing individuality. We all have qualities and characteristics that make us different physically, but what about mentally? Mental qualities that distinguish us from others are your morals, your likes, dislikes, opinions, what you think is right, and what you think is wrong. Now, while it is 100% ok to agree with someone’s opinions or any of the other things listed above, you should never let someone pressure you into changing one of your thoughts. The problem rises again because surrounding us are all of these influences, trying to preach what’s right and wrong and penetrate our brains to the core with others thoughts on life. You can battle this by enjoying what you do/think and being confident in yourself and your ideas. You enjoy what you enjoy for a reason, you know what is right and wrong for a reason, it is you, don’t let others change you. All of these really can tie together to make you more comfortable with yourself, an trust me , I know, it is way harder than people think it is to really embrace who you are and sway away from others “Ideal image of personality.” Honestly, everyone’s ideal image is different, so if you try to please everyone you’ll end up losing yourself in the process. Building yourself is like collecting rocks. Each rock is different, unique in its own way, but all the rocks together make up an amazing collection that all seems to flow. If you see yourself as yourself, and not anyone else, it can open your eyes and build your self esteem higher. You don’t have to change to be cool, you are “cool”. Everyone is “Popular,” In their own way. If people can’t accept you the way you are, then they aren’t meant to be there, or they are, because since they don’t approve as you as a person and your ideas, they make your stronger because you know that you think you are a great person inside and out. Reclaim yourself; think that you are just that, you are you, not anyone else. Embrace it! Don’t feel like you need to change yourself to please others. If I can ask one thing of anyone reading this it is that you understand my message that has been attached throughout the essay as a whole which is “Don’t let the pressure around you change who you are, individuality is something to be cherished.”