Just be yourself …
Sure it’s easy to say, but it’s not always so easy to do.
Why is that? I mean what is so hard about being the person you already are?
Well honestly it wouldn’t be that difficult if everyone else wasn’t constantly butting into our lives and offering their opinions on what we should do or who we should become. This includes parents, friends, siblings, bosses, and even well-meaning spouses. Most of the time they have their our best intentions at heart. They want to help us out. They want us to avoid making the same mistakes they did. They want us to be the best person we can possibly be — the only problem is that it’s still their idea of who we should become.
But it’s even worse than that…
Because not only do we have all of these other people chattering in our ear about what we should be doing, but we also have our own little bossy voice in our head that’s constantly second-guessing ourself and our decisions. So even when the people around us aren’t telling us what to do, we sit around and beat ourselves up for not doing what we think everyone else want us to do.
So what’s the solution?
Just be yourself, but not the person you think other people want you to be. Be the person that you want to become. As Thoreau said, “Live the life you’ve imagined”. Don’t waste any more time trying to meet the expectations (real or imagined) of other people. You’ve already got enough stuff to do…
“Be yourself — not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.”
~Henry David Thoreau
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