Be Yourself
How many times have you heard people tell you to be yourself? As human beings, we can’t stop but look and observe others. We cannot but feel the norm to conform to people around us. T
The comparison is one of the reasons for low self-esteem. This comparison becomes an illness. Low self-esteem can be just one of the side effects, it can get worse.
Eventually, we start pretending to be what we are not, just to please others, just to be good for someone else. We do this in fear of rejection. We become a copy of the beliefs of the people we want to satisfy. Internally we are chiseled into sculpture but the ones that hold the chisel are the external society.
The Antidote
Be yourself. Trying to be anyone but yourself is a waste of the beautiful being that you are. Embrace the individual you are. Above ALL – be true to yourself. If you can’t put your heart into it, take yourself out of it.
Perspective
We humans, create social norms that we try so hard to adapt to. When you learn to live against the social norms, you re-create that social norm. If we didn’t try so hard to be something we are not people would stop creating categories and stereotypes. Stop stressing about life and the social norms society has created.
What You Should Do About It:
1. Know your worth
One thing I’ve learned is to know your value and what you have to offer. NEVER settle for anything less than you deserve. If you are treated as an option do yourself a favor, help them narrow their choice by removing yourself from the equation. You can mean nothing to the people that mean everything to you. It’s not being prideful, just self-respect. Removing the negative will make way for introducing the positive.
2. Love yourself
Love you – as flawed as you might be, as unattractive as you feel sometimes, and as unaccomplished as you think you are, loving yourself is still essential. That’s the only rule to ever think when it comes to being you. Stop comparing yourself to Hollywood 6 pack abs and fake butts. Self-love allows you to find happiness within, instead of constantly seeking it outwardly.
3. Get your shit straight
Prioritize. Do things that will matter now and in the future. Ten years from now it won’t matter what car you drove nor what shoes you wore. Wearing Rayban sunglasses? Good for you. What will matter is how you loved, what you have learned from experience, and how you applied this knowledge.
4. Accept your strengths and weaknesses
Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses. The very instance you accept everything you are and everything you are not, you are able to become who you are capable of being. You were born to be real, not to be perfect.
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”- Bernard M. Maruch
5. Be comfortable/uncomfortable
Getting stuck in a routine is easy to do. The problem is that it does not provide any space for growth. Life as you know it is unpredictable, changes take place spontaneously. Careers can be switched, friendships can grow, and lost hopes can rekindle. An adventure begins at the edge of the comfort zone. You must learn to embrace this change.
6. Never give up on you
The purpose is the reason you journey and passion is the fire that lights your way. It’s never too late to become who you want to be. Live YOUR LIFE, live it the way you want, chisel it to the shape of your desire or someone else will.
Closing Thoughts
If you were a professional artist with a talent to sculpt. Would you pick up the chisel and sculpt it your way or based on people’s opinions? The reality is, you must stop being so hard on yourself and live in your own peace by being you. Live as a passionately inspired human being.
Follow your heart, and take your brain with you for the ride. Don’t let life be a journey being dictated by other perspectives. Be weird, be different, be you, and enjoy the journey in your own skin.