It is better to be yourself than to let others dictate to you what they want you to be.  In my life I have come across many people who have tried to tell me what they want me to be.  I used to want to be a pediatrician and this was OK with my parents.  Then one year I worked in a hospital and I realize that working with sick people was not what I wanted to do.  All of a sudden what I wanted to be became what my parents wanted me to be.   It did not matter to them that I did not feel comfortable with the medical atmosphere.  All that mattered was the amount of money that I would make and what it would look like for the family if I did not become a doctor.  The fact that I wanted to open up a daycare did not make it any better.  They would tell me that there was no future in daycare and that I should not aim low.  I had decided to be something that I wanted to be and because it did not please my parents they acted like it was the end of the world.  I thought to myself, “Who is the one that will be living my life: me or them?”  I realized that even though other people may not like how I am or what I may do, I still have to stand up and do and be what I think is right.  My friends often make fun of me because I get good grades in school.  They ask me to go out sometimes and I do not go because I have work to do.  Then they get mad and try to make me change my decision.  I must admit that sometimes I do go along with them and leave my work for later but sometimes I do stand up and say that I must do my work.  They still try and get me to come and try to call me names and make fun of me because I don’t come with them but whose opinion of myself really matters.  Mine, my opinion of myself should be held higher that what anyone thinks of me.  As long as I am being myself and doing the things that make me happy and are not hurting anyone else, what is the problem?  Be yourself because no one else can be you… =)