Wednesday 2 November 2011

On being the (dorky) one

Back in my advance diploma class, I wrote an essay about being a middle child. There's a theory that says middle child often feels forgotten or ignored and thus, she becomes one that is most different than her siblings, or that she would crave for attention elsewhere because she can’t find it at home.

I don’t find it true based on my experience because I never felt like my parents gave me less attention than they did my sisters while growing up. I’m fortunate to have the best parents in the world who have always provided everything and anything I ever needed.

As a kid, I’ve always been the joker in the family, doing ridiculous and embarrassing stuffs and trying to make everyone laugh. It’s something I took pride of, being able to launch into the ultimate daddy’s girl, clinging into my mom’s arm and acting like I was 5 years old, or cracking lame jokes and being the loud one.

As I get older and I become more conscious about people’s perception of me, I started thinking that maybe people wouldn’t take me seriously if I keep acting this way. It takes some failed attempts to realize that I can’t be anything else.

'Be yourself', they say. But I say, of course. Who else would I be, then?

From something I used to be really proud of, to something I tried to change, to something I want to cherish now.

Who says a 24 year old girl can’t sing Justin Bieber at home like nobody’s business? Or that she can’t say dorky, lame things at the risk of embarrassing herself?

And I guess the fact that a girl has a dorky streak in her gene, doesn’t mean that she can’t be taken seriously.

I am who I am today because of the things I’ve been through, and if it teaches me any, is that we have to treasure every moment and be happy because life is too short to be miserable. And being able to laugh at one-self is the most important thing we can do.

Knowing when to laugh and not to take things too seriously is how we become adults.

And people who can’t appreciate that you’re ‘dorky’ aren’t worth your time.

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