I've had an emotionally charged senior year. With college applications, work, school, sports, and friends on my plate, juggling it all can be a challenge, and I often feel stressed out. I don't ever want to be crabby, but that's how I find myself feeling a lot of the time. But who wants to hang out with crabby people? Nobody does, so I fake it. Or at least I try to pretend like I'm in a good mood, but I am guarded. I put up my walls, and it takes a lot for me to be comfortable around people. I thought that I didn't really fit in- that people still saw me as the nerdy Harry Potter girl or a prude church girl. The truth is, people care a lot less about me and my reputation than I do. What's getting in my way is my own perception of myself. And while learning to believe in myself isn't going to be easy, it is entirely up to me. Nobody else can get in the way of that.