Popularity - What Does It Take?

Imagine you are a fish.  Not a big fish, but a small fish that is very easily taken for granted. You’re the fish that swims with a lot of other fish that look and act like you, so everyone can just blend in together.  Now imagine being a shark, the king of the ocean. You have lots of power, and are able to use it at your own will.
You sometimes swim with others like yourself, but are not afraid to swim alone because, no matter what, you will always rule in the deep blue sea. 

This undersea food chain of social status is much like one that we have all experienced…high school.

High school is a time for everyone to find themselves.  This is the time to become who we will be for the rest of our lives.  This is where we grow up.  So is it important to be popular in high school?

Although psychologists have studied popularity for years, the issue continues to perplex men and women everywhere.

Former runway model, Tyra Banks, conducted a study on teenage social status on an episode of her talk show.  The study was based around what it was like to be popular and unpopular in high school. Tyra selected a handful of unpopular girls, and then chose the same amount of popular girls, all from the same school.  At first she interviewed each group separately. Then, she put the two groups together, and asked them questions that got the conversation going.  In short, the popular girls didn’t see anything wrong with being popular, and who is to say there is?  However, the unpopular girls saw the popular girls as mean and, as they referred to them, “fake”. 
All of the unpopular girls had at one point in their high school career been attacked verbally by the “plastics”.
Another great example of this phenomena, is the 2004 movie Mean Girls. This is a prime example of how sometimes the popular group can take things a bit far, and just by wearing the right cloths and having a bit more money than the usual, pretty much anyone can get to the top of the social status faster than a blink of an eye.

So what is it about popularity that makes some people want to be a part of it so bad?
“I think it’s mainly the feeling of being accepted and recognized by your classmates. It makes you feel like you’re part of something and that is a very desirable thing in high school,” freshman Bridget says.

Popularity is something that aggravates, torments, and even makes us feel at ease knowing that there is a group of people to run it all. 
Are you willing to do whatever it takes to become popular, become queen bee or prince charming?  What will you do to swim the sharks?

Let me know what you think in the comments section!

Take A Moment - A Calming Short Story

Take A Moment...

The world is busy and loud now and people rush about everywhere not even noticing what’s happening around them, but late at night when most of the world is sleeping and quiet sneak outside, look at the stars, smell the air, shiver when the chill of it hits your lungs and turns your breath white.
Listen.
Listen to the silence and the soft sounds of the evening. It’s not really silent; there will always be sound if you listen closely. The sound of a night bird, a train in the distance, the wind whistling through the trees, even the sound of your own heartbeat can be heard. It’s all there if you listen.
It is late now, turn off your tv, step away from your laptop and phone and all the other devices that make you feel connected but leave you utterly alone. Walk out into the night, embrace the cool air, and dance alone in the night breeze. Stare up at those watchful stars that you haven’t looked at in oh so long.
While you look and you listen and you dance, remember what it is to be alive, remember why you live and what really matters to you.
Perhaps you’ll find it’s not what you’ve been working so hard at.
We never stop anymore; we keep going so fast and forget why we started. The world spins and no one even notices how beautiful it all is.

Stop.

Take a moment to feel what it is

To be alive.