On a cold Saturday in March 1984, five students arrived at a school detention. They each had a label they had been given based on the cliques they belonged to at school.  “The Criminal”, “The Brain”, “The Princess”, “The Basket Case” and “The Athlete.”  They were The Breakfast Club.

The principal asked them to spend the day writing an essay on “who they think they are.”  At the end of the movie they come to the realization that they each have a part of all five personalities at the table.  And that they should accept themselves and their imperfections.  They left a note for the principal that said:

“We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong, but we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us… In the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain… and an athlete… and a basket case… a princess… and a criminal.”

We are all just like the members of The Breakfast Club.  No matter how society labels us, we each have days when we are smart, strong, anxious, vain or negative.

Flaws and gifts.  Imperfections and talents.  None of us can truly be defined as a certain type of person. We each have chapters that we don’t want the world to read.  And other chapters that we shout from the rooftops.

But the most important thing is to realize that the good and bad parts of us make us who we are.  Make us unique.  And if we don’t value and accept ourselves, why would anyone else?

So let’s take a page from the five so-called misfits who gathered that morning in detention and listen to them when they say, “Spend a little more time trying to make something of yourself and a little less time trying to impress people.”

You are not a label.  You are you.  And that will impress more people than you know.