Defying Social Standards

I have been thinking a lot about stereotypes, defying social standards, and social status lately. If you haven't noticed, I am not a stereotypical teenage girl. I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. I do not tan into a perfect golden brown color in the summer. I enjoy going to church to learn more about my Lord and Savoir. I have straight A's, and it will stay that way all through High School and College. I desire to serve people, which is why I want to become a Nurse. I am not stick thin, nor will I ever be. I don't go to wild parties, in fact the parties I do go to can't even be called parties, they are "Nerd Gatherings". My hair will never be perfectly straight; I will always wake up in the morning with an Afro. I despise school dances, yet force myself to go to them anyway. I am respectful to my peers, teachers, and other such elders. I do not date, and I am not on a man hunt. I would rather write in my journal or read a sappy romance novel then talk on the phone or waste time on the computer. I do not strive for popularity, first of all it is stupid to set your mind to something like that, second of all I am pretty sure popularity is unreachable for me. I say stupid things, and my mouth usually speaks before my brain can process whether I should say it or not. I am in LOVE with Math and English. I flea from any potential drama. I love singing and dancing, but when those two actions are combined, it usually ends in some sort of catastrophe. I love to use large words, and it makes me even more happy when I have to explain what said words mean to other people. Country music puts me to sleep every night, and every night before I go to bed, I sing my All-State scales and arpeggios. I guess what I am trying to say is... I'm not a normal high school aged girl, and I feel like there is always a lot of peer pressure to conform to social standards, but I don't want to. I don't want to become a typical, robotic, snotty, drama-infested girl. I have watched far too many girls fall into the social standards, it really makes me sad.

I guess the main reason I have been thinking a lot about this stuff is because this year I am defying social standards in many ways. This year I am going to be on Dance Team, usually only popular people are on Dance Team. I am not in any way, shape, or form popular, and I don't want to be. I also made Student Council, which is a total popularity contest. I am just a little nervous about this year. Everyone always says that Junior year is the hardest. I believe it. This year my math class, College Algebra, counts as college credit. If I screw that up, I am already hindering my chances of being successful in college. I also opted to take the hardest science class available for Juniors... Chemistry. I am not very good at anything science related except for human anatomy type stuff. In fact, I died a little inside when I found out that I will have to take Chemistry in college to become a nurse. It's not going to be easy. I am also worried  about my ACT. My parents have made it very clear that they have no intention of paying my way through college, so I need to have a good ACT score as well as my 4.0 GPA. I told myself that I was going to take it blindly the first time and not study at all, but I have changed my mind. I have been taking practice tests and studying like crazy. I have been praying a lot about all of this, but especially upholding my testimony through all of this. This year will definitely be a test of faith. I really need to stop worrying. The Lord's will will be done. I just need to pursue my walk by faith.