YOU WERE NOT PLANTED TO FIT IN
One of the concerns I had when going to uni was not fitting in.
I was a shy person, I dressed a bit different and my lifestyle was just that ‘stay indoors’ sort of person. A lot of you going to uni may be concerned about not fitting in at uni. Certain thoughts may be going through your head such as:
‘I’m not like them’
‘I’m too quiet, I can’t talk to people’
‘I don’t have the latest shoes or fashionable clothes like them’
‘Their lifestyle is different to mine, how am i suppose to fit in?
Simple, you’re not. I know its easy to be said but truthfully, we weren’t created to fit in.
1. WE NEED YOUR INDIVIDUALITY
We need your shyness, we need your ‘lack of style’ we need your sobriety. In a time of storm when everyone is panicking, who will they request for? A calm and rooted person to lift up their Spirit and that person is you. Why? because that’s the person God created you to be.
Don’t get me wrong, if there is a certain trait of yours you want to improve or enhance for your purpose then by all means go for it. University is the time for self development before you enter the ‘real world’.
There may also come a time when you may just have the desire to try and fit in amongst your peers and that’s fine, it’s normal but just remember that you were planted in that university for a difference, do not blend in, be the light God has created you to be.
2. DO YOU REALLY WANT EARTHLY CRED?
If you look at Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 1) they refused to conform to what everyone else was doing by not bowing to someone else who wasn’t God. As a result they were thrown into a furnace seven times hotter than normal. Regardless of that God delivered them.
Following those around you may get give you ‘cred’ but will it align with God’s will for you? Don’t adjust your lifestyle or give up your values for the sake of fitting it.
If you want to wear boot cuts, wear it, If you want to chill in your room whilst everyone parties, do that, if you want to drink supermalt (and milk 😍) or juice whist others are drinking alcohol then do that. Don’t worry about what people think, their opinions of you aren’t final. What God says is.
You’re not a copy of someone, you are the original
CANDICE MANTE
Credit: The Christian Student Guide