You stand looking in the mirror. You and your reflection's eyes meet. You question to yourself who are you? What will you be? Your school tells you that you must have a clear sense of direction for where your life is heading, what job you wish to pursue, what university you wish to attend, what life you wish to live. But in reality you don't even know what you are going to have for lunch, let alone any of these critical life decisions. You wonder to yourself: why is it that all my friends seem so different with me than when they are with a group; why do everyone's personalities shift into egotistical self-centred pricks who try to be at the top of every social ladder and forget your existence? You feel trapped in a world where you must conform to a systemic process made to churn out identical people, leading everyone to crave individuality and approval while creating insecure facades which they hide behind. We live in a world where conforming to the norm of society is both considered a sin and praised. Have you ever wondered why people seem to get crazy haircuts, or act completely out of character one day and try and change the person they are perceived as? Our generation, and every generation before us, has tried to make its mark, its footprint, the defining factor. Through this our own personal identities our lost. We become a drop of water in an ocean. Everyone then fights to create a statement of themselves in which they stand out and have some place of power and relevance, and hence the norm becomes the extreme. We all as humans are selfish and desire to be the alpha in every situation. We try to do this with the most extreme views or looks or characteristics, but as the old saying goes everyone is just 'faking it to make it'. We build ourselves a false reality in which we try to impress others who are only trying to impress us. And that is okay. I'm not shunning those that wish to be outlandish and 'crazy' but the most individual and defining thing in which you can do is be yourself and be honest to who you really are. Individuality comes with confidence in yourself. Here is a settling Jean-Paul Sartre quote to finish 'The realisation that life is absurd cannot be an end, but only a beginning' Yours lovingly, Jamie