Throughout my quest for eternal peace, I’ve found that, recently, the new concept of how to act according to younger generations, is utterly miserable and underwhelming. As many wandering adolescents look for their potential fairy-tale love, it has become apparent that nonchalance is on the rise, because it seems like that’s the only way to attract nowadays. However, the word has turned into an umbrella term less than it has become a genuine description.

I unfortunately fell into that trap during my freshman year of high school, more or less I thought people would think I was cool and would want to be around me because I was “such a chill guy.” However, the more and more I pushed this “I don’t care” agenda onto my personality; the harder and harder it got to feel happy about myself and what I was doing with my life. It was a constant battle of trying to be nonchalant and not care about anything, meanwhile, I knew that wasn’t me deep down.

It wasn’t until recently that I finally found who I am. I started to look at the bright side of everything, and force myself out of my comfort zone. To go for what I want with nothing but my courage and a ray of sunshine. Only then did I realize that I was meant to live for myself and express myself to the fullest. When I did, I became happier than I could ever imagine. Everything in my life seemingly fell into place, and I could feel myself getting into a groove that I had never seen in my life before.

I take a lot of inspiration from social media influencer and podcaster, Leo Skepi. In Skepi’s podcast, Aware and Aggravated, he preaches about embracing who you truly are, or how he states it: “Embracing your Truth,” which means to break free from false realities that you and other people in your life force upon you, and empower yourself to be who you really are. Another concept Skepi breaks down that I follow is: “Come correct or be collected for removal.” Which means to not tolerate disrespect and to make a move to surround yourself with people who agree and align with your values.

In all of this, I’ve realized that the more I care about what others think of me; the less I care about myself. If I could end this with a quote of my own, it would be, “To be able to love others, you’ve got to be able to love yourself first. So live your life for yourself, and express yourself fully. What you want will come— but you’ve got to attract it first.”