Junior Lauren Hillier may realize more about life than the average high school student. As a girl with big dreams and aspirations, she is trying to break old habits and stray from the norm.

Hillier created a blog in order to free her thoughts and express her creativity by writing, creating videos, and taking photos.

Check out her blog at http://younggmindss.squarespace.com.

Q: What was your inspiration for starting your blog?

A: “I guess it was a combination of things because for the past three years I’ve been obsessed with makeup and YouTubers, and so I knew that I definitely wanted to do something like that; start a YouTube channel. But, I was always super busy, so when I did this YouTube channel I wanted to be 100% dedicated to it and make sure all my videos were super good. I didn’t think this would be the case until maybe I was done with high school. Then, I was inspired by “The Messy Effect,” which is a group of girls that went on a road trip to spread positivity and real-world thinking, and get people to look at the real-life problems of this teenage generation. They started a blog too, and I thought, ‘Wow, I want to start something like that!’ I thought that I could make a combination of a blog with a YouTube [account]. By doing a blog and videos, I had so many more opportunities. I could put videos on there, write about random thoughts, and post pictures from my day.”

Q: What’s the message you want to get out to people through the blog?

A: “My message is to this generation, young adults. I want to get out the message that you’re young, we can do whatever we want, and to be carefree. We should take risks, do want you love. Don’t confine yourself by social standards or by what other people tell you is okay, by your parents or in school. If you want to do something, you can do whatever you want. Live for yourself because its okay to have certain feelings about things. Enjoy each part of your life-the flaws, the positive things, and the negative things.”

Q: What do you enjoy writing about?

A: “I enjoy writing about things from a different view; taking things one step deeper. What people feel, but they don’t want to say it, but its there. I like to highlight that inner voice, because I don’t think people talk enough about what’s really going on, and how they really feel or what they really see. They are sugar-coating everything and I don’t want to sugar-coat anything. “

Q: How active are you on your blog and how successful has it been so far?

A: “Right now, I have a total of five or six posts and I started my blog a week before school started. But, I am very excited to be able to put more effort into it when my field hockey season ends. I’ve had it up for two and a half months now and about 1,500 people have visited my site. I’m really excited about it because I haven’t told a lot of people about it. I’ve just had it in my Instagram bio and I’ve told my friends, but I have not advertised it at all. I’ll start advertising it more in the future.”

Q: What would you say is the most difficult part about putting your thoughts on the Internet for everyone to see?

A: “The negativity I get as feedback probably, because in this day and age everyone has something to say, so I hear a lot about it. It kind of empowers me even more to be like, ‘You know what, this is why I’m doing it.’  I’m trying to find the people out there who are going to make a difference, who are going to be different than everyone else. So, in a way, that does empower me. But, it also sometimes sets me back like, ‘wow, people are so scared to step out of their comfort zone.’ I guess another thing is that I’m not always the best writer so I have a hard time getting what’s in my head down on paper in the best way for everyone to understand. I have problems with grammar usage as well, and my parents care a lot about me and want to make sure this comes off in the best way. There is kind of a universal tension, from an older age to a younger age, how things should be put out about yourself or the way that you’re thinking.”

Q: What would you tell someone that wants to do something differently or express themselves the way you did?

A: “Don’t care about what other people think and I say that in the most positive way. I’m not saying everything is okay to do and that you should do it, but don’t choose not to do something because you are afraid what others will think. Put yourself out on a limb because you learn from stepping out of your comfort zone. You learn from taking risks. It’s okay to fail; that’s the way you learn new things. You’ll come up with original ideas and you’ll get more comfortable doing things you weren’t before. So, who cares? You’re the one that’s gonna grow. The worst thing that could happen is that you would make a mistake, or you’d find out what you can do better next time. This world is endless, never have regrets, and go for it.”