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New Friends

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at USFSP chapter.

Paranoia, Doubt, and Insecurity were the mean girls that She saw almost every day.

They picked on Her and enjoyed dismantling Her spirit. Their goal was always to reduce Her spirit to nothingness.

Paranoia is an anxious wreck. Paranoia’s modus operandi was to aggressively storm down the hallway without warning, grab Her by the shoulders, and push Her repeatedly into the wall. Paranoia riled Her up and emphatically yelled in Her face, “Worry! The worst case scenario is happening right now. I don’t have evidence, but it just IS happening right now. Worry! Analyze! Overthink! Ruminate! Keep doing this until you feel broken!”

Doubt is sort of a wallflower, but is not to be underestimated. When something wonderful and desirable was within Her reach, Doubt slyly wafted over to pull Her aside softly. Doubt would then gently whisper to Her with strong conviction, “You shouldn’t be so sure about this. It’s a delusion, a fallacy. Drop your hope. Lose your faith.”

Insecurity is a pesky, clingy brat who couldn’t leave Her alone. Insecurity is a nasty parasite, loud and full of toxic energy. Wherever She was going and whatever She was doing, Insecurity tagged along as if attached by the hip and whined in Her ear constantly. Insecurity encouraged Her to compare Herself to others and scrutinize the faults in Herself. Insecurity loved to tell Her, “You could be better,” and “You’re not enough.”

Love, Acceptance, and Peace were the nice girls that always hung around, but were never really acknowledged by Her.

Paranoia, Doubt, and Insecurity demanded and robbed so much of Her time, attention and energy, She couldn’t even notice Love, Acceptance, and Peace. She couldn’t believe She had been so ignorant and silly. Those nice girls were always, always there. Why didn’t She embrace them and appreciate them before?

It was like it was perpetually nighttime for Her and the mean girls were the moon and the nice girls were the sun but just because She only saw the moon and couldn’t see the sun at that moment, She deemed it not there.

But night truly fell and the day truly rose for Her for her at last. She finally realized that Love, Acceptance, and Peace had always been there. She learned to spend her energy on them. She embraced them and appreciated them. She recognized them as friends She had always known.

Paranoia, Doubt, and Insecurity got bored and moved on to their next victim, making room for Love, Acceptance, and Peace to rule Her soul. These were the nice girls that became Her new best friends. They became Her truth, the nature of Her being, and She didn’t need anything else.

Annie is a social media writer for USF St. Petersburg Marketing and Communications Department. She is majoring in Sociology and Criminology and minoring in Psychology and Leadership. "If we did all the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves." - Thomas Edison