Twilight Sparkle Polyvore set

Twilight Sparkle by SarahBelle624

I made this Polyvore set because I thought the outfits were clever in the movie The Equestria Girls. The books are a given with Twilight, and the cutie mark had to be part of the decoration. The outift is based on the blue button up and cute purple skirt that Twilight wears in the film. The clogs were the best thing I could find. 

For the whole set:

http://www.polyvore.com/twilight_sparkle/set?id=103513798

Who you are and What you are

         The latest episode for My Little Pony Friendship is Magic focused on Spike and walked through his journey to discover who he is and what he is capable of. He found other dragons, and tried to learn the things they do and fit in with the crowd. He discovered that just because he was a dragon, he didn't have to or want to act like one. Spike decided who he was by doing what he enjoyed instead of what was expected of him due to his label.
          Labels can be a positive or negative thing. By giving someone a general title, specific expectations are related to that name. A worker is expected to work, a student is expected to study and an artist is expected to create art. Other labels like jock, nerd and prep have nothing to do with who a person is, unless they choose to make the label become who they are. Once you put a label on a person, they become a one dimensional persona in your mind. Whether the persona is good or bad depends on your acknowledgement of people. People give themselves labels to define who they are, especially if they are judgmental of  others and want to create a specific clique to belong to.
          Even if you enjoy activities associated with the label of prep, nerd or jock, the label itself will  never be who you truly are. Spike learned this when he met other dragons, and tried to pass every test they gave him, due to the pressure he felt in not knowing his identity.
          Alice from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland goes on a similar journey. Everyone tells her that she is the wrong Alice but only when she tells Absolem who she is, does she gain the power to face the Jabberwocky. Alice learns who she is by discovering what she can do. She makes decisions to change her fate, and prove everyone wrong that she's the wrong Alice.
         The message of these stories is simple: Only you have the power to decide who you are and what you can do. Spike learned this by meeting other dragons, and Alice learned this by acting on what she wanted to do. Both characters had let other people determine who they were by doing what was expected of them, but they finally discovered what they really wanted to do and who they wanted to be. Going on a journey of self discovery is an important rite of passage in everyone's life. Age, time and situation is irrelevant. Once something threatens you to lose your identity or condemns you to a label, it is only natural to question if this is really who you are and who you want to be.
         As Spike says in the episode, "Who I am is not the same as what I am."
Who you are is your decision while what you are is the person people think you are. The self is a complex thing that can never be defined through one label. 

Never forget who made you who you are

I watched My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic a little while ago, and a quote from Rarity stood out to me: "No matter where you go in life, never forget that you are the product of your home and your friends. And that is something always to be proud of, no matter what."
It's a good statement, especially for those who have just closed a chapter of their lives and started a new one. The real world can be intimidating, and you will face more challenging things than the assignments or projects that you have overcome. That's why you should never forget who you are, and try to become someone you're not. This includes more than just a social, but a professional reputation. When certain areas in your life are overwhelming, you must have a solid ground to stand on. That's why self confidence and knowledge is so important. It keeps you going when life becomes difficult. It gets you through tough times, overwhelming decisions and challenging obstacles on whatever road you take. I believe that if you are confident with who you are, proud of where you came from and knowledgeable about the defining aspects of your character, you can achieve your goals and be content with yourself. After my graduation yesterday, I thought about this a lot. There was a moment where the commencement speaker told us to appreciate the support we had from family and friends, because that support is what got us that far. It is very important to understand that you don't achieve goals and get through life on your own. It is the support around you that keeps you moving forward, and motivates you to get up when you're knocked down. This may seem far-fetched advice for graduates, but I understood what the speaker was talking about.
You lose yourself when you ignore the parts of your life that shape you. Even difficult memories and challenging assignments are learning experiences and all part of life. Another thing that the speaker said was, "good leaders understand that there is always something to learn". That's very true, if you think about the powerful people in the world, and the great minds of the past and present, they never stop learning. Once you believe that you don't have to learn anymore, you have set yourself up for more lessons than you can imagine. There's a certain comfort to realizing that you won't know everything. If you did, you wouldn't learn, and change from your experience. One lesson to learn is that you are who you are because of the people around you. You may not realize it, but even the smallest conversation will effect you somehow, and influence a decision, big or small in your future. Role-models, parents, siblings, friends,family, teachers, class mates, customers, all people have an important role to play in your life, so it is important to remember the people you're proud of and know the parts of your personality that were inspired by them.

(Picture by stormchylde and a gift from my friend Kim ^_^)
http://stormchylde.deviantart.com/art/Tale-as-Old-as-Time-272461139