I first realized that I was strong-willed when my mom simply couldn’t stand how argumentative I was. She would give up trying to convince me to change my stance by saying, “You should just be a lawyer.” And throughout my life, I have received that advice over and over again from adults who chuckle hearing me argue or try to convince people of my personal beliefs. Because of this, I used to snub my nose at ever thinking about being a lawyer, simply because I felt that people would tell me that because my stubbornness was a negative attribute — but I have started to accept it.
Hearing how stubborn and annoyingly persistent I was about my beliefs hurt me as a kid. People didn’t mean it in a nice way — or at least it didn’t seem that way. And sometimes that is still true — some people don’t like that about me. But I’ve realized that it is something that has served me in so many different ways without even noticing.
What do I mean by this? Well, let’s start by how fervently I will defend Taylor Swift. Some people will listen to all of her music but “won’t like her as a person.” I think that’s a cop out way of saying, “I actually just really like her but I know she’s dramatic and not really well-liked.” But not me. I know she is dramatic and has had a lot of boyfriends, but she is inherently talented and I think her ability to dominate the country and pop genres is very impressive. Also, I just think she writes all her songs about my life because they are so relatable.
But this simple thing that I very strongly believe in showed me that I don’t need to go around convincing other people who disagree that Taylor Swift is awesome. Instead, it taught me to be proud of it and to not make excuses about liking her just because other people don’t.
I know it sounds really dumb and self-explanatory. Everyone knows not to conform to peer pressure. But for me, rather than actively not conforming to peer pressure, it’s more of ridding the thought that my beliefs are somehow less than others’. I mean Dumbledore said it in the first “Harry Potter” book — “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”
And in that way I think that being strong-willed is a feat. I don’t really succumb to peer pressure in any sense, just because if I don’t believe in something or want to do it then I won’t. Not in a negative sense — if someone asks me to do them a favor, I will usually do it even if I don’t want to. I’m talking more of going out or doing stupid things. If I want to stay in with “The Office” characters rather than spend another night out until 3 a.m., I will. If I want to belt Taylor Swift out the window of my car going down Rugby Road, I will. No shame.
It really just comes down to feeling comfortable enough in your own skin to own up to those things. And I am definitely not that comfortable — I’ll shy away from certain beliefs if I think they will step on people’s toes or make the situation awkward. But I would say it is something big that I am actively learning from something as simple as defending Taylor Swift. So go ahead, tell me I should be a lawyer when I am being strong-willed and argumentative — you can call me up when you need my legal advice or impressive persistence.
Lucie Drahozal is a Life Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at life@cavalierdaily.com.
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