One step is all it would take.
     But I just couldn't take it.
     I followed the twists and turns of life like a duckling follows its mother, taking the same path as everyone else, following the crowd, not being seen, blending in, just being the majority, never the minority. I complained about the same things as everyone, I ate the same things as everyone, I moved the same way as everyone, I was the same as everyone. I lived a typical life: with my family in a house in the suburbs, pets that came and went with their time, and yet I was the same. Even my name is generic: Sarah Smith. Sarah Smith, the girl who is never seen. Sarah Smith, the girl everyone knows, but few really know. Sarah Smith, the girl to follow the crowd. Sarah Smith, the girl who fits into the mold of every basic human in modern day America. A basic high school life, a basic suburb home, and a basic teenage name. Generic hair, typical clothes, average eyes. Average, always average.
     My friends came and went, eventually moving along for something new, something fresh, something other than average. They were all drifting, just like me, except they took that step and left the crowd, escaped the border and being average. Becoming great. Every one of my friends moved on to do better; got good grades, became amazing musicians, broke athletic records. Every one of my friends learned from me what would happen if you stayed generic. Typical. Basic. Average. The one word I always hoped to escape one day. Average.
     I knew if I followed the masses, kept with the majority, I would never escape average, but I could never make myself take the one step, one step, to escape the stereotype of teens everywhere. I tried to take the leap of faith into the unknown, but I couldn't leave what I had always known.
     It kept me awake at night, haunting my dreams. Average, average, average. My brain screamed from the unoriginality of the word, just average. I knew it wouldn't get me far in life, just following the group, the common mold. One night, I couldn't sleep from the fear of nowhere, the fear of non-success from just being a measly average. After hours upon hours of restlessness, I took the step, the one step I needed.
      I stepped over to my nightstand and pulled out a pair of scissors. I chopped off my basic hair to shoulder length. I wiped off all of my makeup. I looked in the mirror and I knew, tomorrow I would take the step, the leap of faith that I needed to be me. One. An individual. And I did. I put on a stand-out outfit, I joined a writing club, I voiced my own opinions, which I didn't even know I had until I said them out loud. I made new friends, ones that stayed for longer than a single year. I became myself. And I've never looked back.
      To those waiting for a sign to take that one step, this is that sign. Do what your heart wants, follow your passions, not the crowd. Live your one life. Take the one step you need, don't wait for everyone else to do it for you. Only you can escape average.
A/N this isn't a true story:) just a made up thing from my brain that I just rattled off:) it's been good to write again:)-Piper