The speaker reflects on their past of not fitting in and embracing their uniqueness in middle and high school. They discuss their chameleon-like ability to connect with various groups, their evolving sense of style, and their diverse interests in skateboarding, music, and reading. They express a love for creativity through writing, podcasting, and working with cameras, despite not being artistically inclined. They emphasize the importance of self-acceptance and growth through life's experiences and challenges, encouraging listeners to appreciate their journey and individuality.
Speaking of not being normal, let's talk about, or let's not talk about, the way that I dressed in middle school and high school. I was super quirky. I remember I thought it was the coolest thing to roll up to school with long socks. I pulled them practically to my kneecaps, and I just thought I was so cool, but I wasn't. But I've always been a chameleon. I've always been able to talk to several different groups of people.
I was friends with athletic people. I was friends with key club people. I was friends with theater and JROTC kids because, well, I was one of them, but I really wish that I stopped being so hard on myself because I look back and I'm just like, you were never meant to be normal. You were never meant to fit in, and that's just the most amazing thing about you, Rihanna. I think that also may be a word for someone listening and not feeling like they could ever fit in.
You weren't meant to fit in. I've just always been a person who had so many passions. I've tried picking up skateboarding. I've tried picking up guitar, and none of them really worked out, but one thing that's been consistent in my life is, although I didn't have good style back then, a good sense of style back then, I like to think that I do now. I love dressing street. I like street wear. I love street wear. Hip-hop, you name it, I'm there.
I love dressing comfortably, so you'll often see me in sweatpants and a hoodie. I love dressing very girly now. I'm trying to actually elevate my wardrobe. I'm just going to be giving a lot more old-money chic because I just love being a woman now. I don't see that as a weakness, actually. It's one of my strengths. I love reading. I always have. I remember at times I would pull the blankets over me and act like I was sleeping when my mom would come in the room, but I was sitting there reading.
Granted, a lot of it was because of school. I was forced to read, but I actually fell in love with it. I do love reading. I don't read as much as I want to because it often means you have to quiet yourself. It's always been hard to do that because I've struggled in my mind, but I do enjoy reading. I do love cameras. I have always loved acting and being on the other end of it, but I served on the broadcast team for my church.
I love cameras. I love learning about aperture and lighting and all these things that I only really have surface-level knowledge of at the moment, but I'm getting there. I've always enjoyed cameras. I've always enjoyed filming. I remember putting on a play for my sister at home. I remember recording my cousins and telling them to do a certain thing. Appropriate. Let's not have our minds go elsewhere, but I've enjoyed art. I love museums and poetry and paintings, although I'm not very artistic.
Not when it comes to drawing and painting. I can barely make a stick figure, that's how bad I am, I promise you, but I've also learned that I can be creative and artistic in certain other ways, like writing and this podcast. I think that's me expressing my creativity in ways. I'm also just rambling because I'm just trying to continue to paint a picture, to continue to express my heart. But all I have to say is that I've always been quirky, I've always been weird, I've never really knew how to be comfortable in my skin until recently, and even now it's still a battle, but it's a battle that I hear that a lot of people struggle with, like my mom, and I see older women, and it saddens me because I really think that each and every one of us are beautiful in our own ways.
I am just expressing my heart and who I am, but I hope in ways it makes you think about what you were like in middle school and high school, and I hope that it makes you appreciate all those moments that really led you to where you are now, because if it wasn't for those moments, if it wasn't for the heartache and the pains and the stumbling, and if it wasn't for the cutting your hair and changing it up and dressing a certain way, you really wouldn't know what you like, you really wouldn't know who you are.
This is me. Unfiltered.