Labeled for Life

The first issue I want to talk about are stereotypes, something that has given me a lot of stress in my high school career. In my first two years of high school I was a cheerleader, and therefore most of my friends were too. So people often thought that I, like them, was the “stereotypical cheerleader” i.e. either a mean, self-centered girl obsessed with her looks and always dated the "jocks" or a perfect, innocent Miss America pageant girl. But in reality, I was neither of those things.  I was the cheerleader who was rather shy, always tried hard in school, liked to be a bookworm, and was even part of a club devoted to help prevent bullying. Yet, even people who knew this, don’t wish to see me this way. What I learned was that once you do ONE thing to fit your stereotype and your labeled for life. But either way people labeled me it hurt. If I a was the mean, self-centered cheerleader, all because I liked to dress up for school, people also label me as unapproachable and, to be honest, a bitch.  And, if i was the perfect, innocent cheerleader because I liked to get good grades, people would then hold me to this unattainable standard. While both are detrimental in their own ways, it was the second one that really got to me. I was so often label this, even by my parents, that I started to believe it. Which, caused me a LOT of pain because "perfection" is so unattainable. Anyway, i'll keep this short and sweet. The point I'm trying to make is that you shouldn't use stereotypes against someone, because no matter if you think their good or bad, their still harmful. So as the saying goes, "don't judge a book by its cover."