Bold vs Familiar

MATILDA ALMOND

I have noticed - as you may have - the growing “trend” of being bold among teenagers within our society. This trend of boldness could be simply exercised by watching movies from different decades that no one else your age watches, or discovering a hidden rock band and devoting all your time listening to their music and only their music because it is yours - you discovered it after all. That bold impulse to ride any train to where it might take you.

Whether it be your “unique” fashion sense, music taste or lifestyle, the irony is that boldness is becoming a commonality; so really, it isn’t that bold to be bold anymore. I know for a fact in the past I too have dreamed of being the first to discover a band, or running away on the train at night, but now I realise that I wouldn’t know what to do when I got to my foreign destination.

This is why I have realised that we all need some aspects of familiarity in our lives. I am not saying that boldness is a bad thing; it suggests excitement, self-expression, and difference. But when push comes to shove, most of us would have to choose familiarity over boldness- because if everyone was completely and utterly bold in their decisions we would all be quite disorientated by the overwhelming difference of day-today life, until being bold once again becomes familiar. If we lost familiarity we would lose the familiar rhythms of humanity that bond us and allow us to relate and create relationships between one another.

I’ll be the first young person to admit I love familiarity; this may be a boring fact but it is true. I also love boldness; but if I were to lose the familiar things I take for granted I would be completely lost!

So I am going to leave you with this thought and if you agree, don’t be scared to say you love familiarity! While others may think it’s a bit strange at first, eventually they will likely dive a little deeper and discover that they love it as well. Each and every one of us needs a balance of familiar patterns and some boldness to keep life exciting so that every day doesn’t feel the same.