Be Yourself

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ― Oscar Wilde

“The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self.” — Fred Rogers

We all need to learn to be ourselves again. This is one of the most crucial aspects of successfully navigating through this catastrophe we call life. This encouragement is in no way giving you the right to be a jerk. We have already discussed that healing ourselves from the pain caused by this world requires that we work hard to get rid of our negative traits.

Traits such as being arrogant, rude, dishonest and stingy have no place in your life. When we proudly walk around with these ugly habits, we are inviting all sorts of negativity into our lives. The result of that is only more pain and disappointment. That is why I encouraged you in the very first chapter to get to know yourself. This will better equip you to heal yourself, by learning more about your faults.

So what exactly does it mean to be yourself? It requires that you distance yourself from all the labels the world around us has imposed on us. These ugly labels come about because of the way we look, the way we dress or even the community we grew up in. There is no reason for us to allow the world around us to squeeze us into a mold that doesn’t really represent who we are. Just think about how liberating it would be to not have to pretend to be something you are not. This is all within reason of course. We would never want to take certain liberties that may have far-reaching effects on our personal life, and may even jeopardize our jobs. That means that you might want to hold off on anything drastic, like dying your hair purple and green, until you find an employer that is willing to accommodate such a choice.

Here are 5 important reasons why you need to start being true to yourself:

1. You will never be able to please everyone. If you constantly allow the people around you to determine who you are, you will constantly have to change what you stand for in order to try and make everyone happy. The only problem with this is that you will be dealing with so many conflicting demands that you will eventually end up disappointing someone. Additionally, putting yourself under this kind of pressure will leave you feeling dissatisfied in the end.

2. The society around us really doesn’t know what it wants. The media portrays both the meek homemaker and the fierce go-getter, as the ideal woman. Society also demands that men be sensitive to the needs of the opposite sex and the dangerous bad boy as well. Which will you be if you are simply allowing those around you to determine who you are? Whatever you decide to be, just remember that it is quite exhausting to be putting on this kind of show every day.

3. You will end up making life-changing decisions based on the whims of the people around you, who will not suffer the consequences of these choices. If you decide to have a child, simply because your family thinks it's time, you will be the one to have to take care of that child! If you decide to pursue a career because your peers think you would do well in it, you will have to live with the burden of a career that you hate, forever.

4. The truth always comes out. Sooner or later, people will begin to realize that you are faking. Unfortunately, as we see in the case of many celebrities, the truth often comes out in a big scandal or breakdown.

5. When you are content with who you are, you will be truly happy. How can you love yourself, when you are constantly pretending to be something that you are not?

When all is said and done, you need to take control of your life if you want to see real improvements. You cannot expect different results if you are not bold enough to make drastic changes. And the time for those changes is now!