In the world today, some people live by the saying “society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members”(Emerson).  As a society we shouldn’t be lulled into following expected customs and do what makes us happy, not what makes us the most money.  In our lifetime, we all want to achieve acceptance from our family, peers and society as a whole.  This desire for acceptance has eliminated us of our individuality and has forced us to conform to what society believes we should be.  Once we become one with society we are not original, we are forced to conform to society’s views.  I have observed all of these things in my own life and have seen many people that conform and never come back from normality. In order to express your individuality and uniqueness in our society you need to possess or achieve the following; trust in yourself, the integrity of your own mind, the desire to contribute to society, and the want to work for the foundations of your dreams.
             

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string”(Emerson).   The first thing you need to have is trust in yourself and your ability to make good decisions in your life.  Once you believe in yourself, you will be able to live with purpose.  An experience where I trusted myself with what I wanted to do was when I quit participating in a sport.  Basketball started out as a positive impact and I loved to play it.  However, as I got older, the enjoyment of participating in the sport became overshadowed by unfair treatment from the coach.  It happens in every sport, there is always a star player that the coach pays more attention to. It is like having a garden, if you want all the flowers to grow you can't just water one. The amount of effort, hard work, and physical exertion I put into it was getting me nothing in return.  Once I realized this, I trusted myself with the decision to discontinue my participation in basketball.  It was a difficult decision, but I knew how I felt and I could not continue to participate in something that was not impacting me in a positive way.  I felt that my happiness was being compromised and therefore I wasn’t achieving success. This decision will bring me one step closer to making the right decisions pertaining to my future life.  If you achieve this core belief, you will be one step closer to achieving originality in your life.
           

The second thing you need to achieve is the mastering of your own mind. "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind” (Emerson).  The only thing that keeps a man from reaching his full potential in life is the strength of his mind.  To me being able to figure out things for yourself is more important than the desire to have acceptance from others in society. To have integrity is to make the right decisions in life and to be honest with yourself about them. Having integrity is one of the most important thing a person can have because it ultimately shapes who you associate yourself with.   If you don’t allow yourself integrity, then you won’t be able to respect your own dreams or beliefs.  We all grow up in a society that tells us there is only one way to do things in the world, and if you don’t do it perfectly, you will fail as a human being. This is not true.  If you decided you weren’t going to college, society would label you as a failure and it would turn its back on you for not conforming.  But in reality, you are not doing a disservice to society at all if you don’t have the desire or ability to further your education. Steve Jobs dropped out of college and still achieved great financial and other successes in his life such as being the father of modern technology. This just shows that the way society thinks you need to conform isn’t always right. 
            

Now that you have identified how to trust yourself and being the master of your own mind, you need to realize what society really is and how it is shaping us unknowingly. “We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us even in our soundest sleep” (Emerson).  We should believe that things we want to achieve in life are worth working for.  We should do things that make us want to get up in the morning and contribute to society.  My parents have helped me develop a strong core belief in education and that obtaining a college degree after graduating from high school is one of the most important thing you can do to increase your chances of being successful in life.  I never truly understood how important this belief was until one of my close relatives got laid off from his job.  Instead of looking for another job right away, he chose to take some “time off” but soon that one week to get back on his feet turned into a month, then two.  He slowly turned into a frog on a log, soaking up the sunlight.   I could sense that it wasn’t that he was lazy, but rather that he was terrified because he did not have a college degree and that society would turn its back on him.
           

His house soon got foreclosed on and he was forced to go live with his parents.  My relative tried to accommodate his dreams with what society viewed fit for him to give back to the world.  He has no money, no job, and no pride.  At that moment, I realized I never want to be just a cog in the machine.  Society will not get to pick for me as they did for my relative. You have to fight not only the conformities of society, but your own self.  You don’t feel yourself becoming just another piece to the puzzle in society, so you conform naturally.  I believe that there is no puzzle. There isn’t a right or a wrong way to go.  If you believe you are making a contribution to society in a positive way, then you are. Don’t let society tell you differently.
             

The last thing you need to do to obtain or reach happiness and originality is you need to dream. “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them” (Emerson).  Even if your dreams are unrealistic, if you work hard and put in a sturdy foundation, you can still achieve them.  My dream is to become a veterinarian and someday open my own business.  I thought this dream could maybe become a reality when I was in third grade and I just got my own puppy.  All of my life I have loved animals. I remember in third grade we were talking about what we wanted to be when we got older. All of the kids went around the circle and said “astronaut” or “president of the United States,” but once it got to me I had no idea what I wanted to be. I sat there crying and crying until the teacher had to take me out in the hall. Once in the hall she said to me, “Laura what is something you love.” Instantly I said, “my puppy Max.” My teacher smiled and said, “I know what you could be.” I sat up astonished and the tears started to dry, and she opened her mouth and said, “a veterinarian.” 
             

From that time on, it stuck. I am now 17 years old, and to this day it makes perfect sense for me to spend my life giving back to the animals.  I never wanted to be in that situation where I am unhappy with what I am doing to contribute to society. So I built my castles in the air and once I reached high school, I started the long journey of building a foundation underneath them.
         

I have given all of the right steps to achieving true originality in society today. You first need to trust yourself.  Secondly, you need to master your own mind.  Lastly, you have to understand that society is trying to put you in a mold that you don’t fit into.  Your dream is the most important part of who you are and shows your originality.  Once you realize this, you need to take all of the items I have noted, apply them to your dream, and break out of the mold.  If you do all of  these things, you will bring originality back into the world that shapes us and in turn you will achieve happiness.