During club week, a lot happened at a very rapid pace, but there was something that made me stop and think. All of a sudden, a girl I know seemed to change her personality during the week. One day she was a certain person, then the next day she was another, and I had no way to predict it nor did I understand. Apparently the same body could contain two entirely different people. It didn’t take me long to find out why. The girl who was new in the club behaved in a particular way when she was with the people of the “X” club and quite another when they were not hovering nearby. Then it became clear to me that the girl pretended just to get that desired spot in the “X” club. Later I learned that she wasn’t the only one behaving similarly. Many were.

But let’s not be so harsh, this girl is not the only one pretending to be someone she is not. We all do this in some way or another. Some to a greater degree, others less so, but all of us pretend.

The question is why? I know the answer varies depending on the case, but I will venture with what I consider is the number one reason. We pretend because we’re fearful: fearful of not fitting in, being humiliated, not having friends, being the outcast, pointed fingers or whispered comments behind our backs, missing the good times that everyone seems to enjoy. And when we leave college, we fear a life without achievements: fear of not getting that job, not finding that special someone, being mediocre, not being well regarded by society … Fear of being different.

All of us suffer some of these fears whether we admit it or not. Even though we don’t pretend all the time, occasionally, we do. In these moments we must ask again, “why?”

Have you even thought for one second that God made you different intentionally? There is no one on the face of the earth with your qualities, tastes, errors or attributes. There has never been anyone like you and no one ever will be. God designed you to be different, to stand out amongst the crowd thanks to your originality. You are special in the very sense of the word. And God wants you to be.

So if your creator designed you so carefully, why pretend to be someone who you are not? Why change our way of being, speaking, dressing and acting when we are in front of others? What if you feel proud of who you are and understand that by the mere fact of being, you’re already special?

In a world like ours, the authentic, more than ever before, is invaluable.