Be unapologetically yourself
As I was swimming and letting go of my overthinking mind I was contemplating how unique each of us is. Have you looked at your fingerprints this morning? They are uniquely yours and no other human being will ever have them. In a culture where we are taught to put a filter on everything we are pulled apart from our essence. The reality is that we all wake up with dragon breath, that a pimple or two always appears when we have to go on a romantic date and that we're not showering every time when we should. If you dare to scroll and binge consume social media you will witness the pretty degradation of the human form: I strive to find natural faces, people who don't waste time with make-up and filters because they have enough confidence to put themselves out there as they are and show that hey...we have wrinkles and that's okay.
Being yourself means discovering what your quirks are and be willing to embrace them. The very thing that someone said is annoying about you might be the very thing that makes someone fall in love with you. In the pursuit for the love of others we lose love for ourselves and this should not be the new norm. First you should love God or however you choose to call the higher power. Then you should love and accept yourself. The rest is a bonus that the world might decide or not to give to you.
Being yourself means a process of acceptance. I often thought that a rejection tells something about me when the truth is that rejection has nothing to do with me. It tells more about the other person and the reasons should not interest you. People can have a very hard time letting go to what could have been or to what that person could have become. But that is not acceptance or love. Once you shed your projections of what you should be you can begin to accept others. If this can happen 30 to 50% of the times you're on the right path. I believe that the majority of us are on an ongoing journey to self acceptance all of our lives. Babies accept themselves fully. They have no prejudice about not putting their toes in their mouth. As we grow up we are told numerous stifling paradigms in which we tend to believe: you need to look like this if you want to be liked, you need a certain car if you want to be around certain people, you should have this job and this degree if you want respect and so on, your natural smell sucks so you should always cover it with expensive perfume. The path to self acceptance has to be forced by you in this society by not adhering to what the majority does and believes. You need to be the rainbow sheep, the crazy one who dares to say bye bye to the flock and jump around beyond the confines of the shepherd's fields.
Being yourself is about embracing your entire rainbow, even if it seems way too much colour to handle. God hasn't placed you on this Earth to be a monochrome boring sheep. You have an entire rainbow in you, dare to bring it forth!
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It's way too much but it's comforting to do it. Have a brilliant day!
Thank you!
These are thoughts that have been on my own mind today. Often we are so concerned with fitting in we end up trying to be what we are not and often isolating ourselves all the more. How can others accept us for who we are if we can't even accept ourselves for who we are?
Oh I can relate and I bet that many reading this feel the same,perhaps sighing along the way.
Acceptance is difficult because non -acceptance starts early in life: as a child you are often told to do this, not to do that and limitations are placed. Slowly the inner voice of the confident child dims down. And this is how mass production of anxiety ridden adults is made. It starts early. And it takes a lot of effort to get back to our natural state: of acceptance. We are humans. It is normal to look ....normal. But beauty industry thrives when we are insecure about looks, smell, status , appearance. So an anxious person is the ideal customer that will buy, scroll and use filters. The other "naturals" are somewhere deep in nature probably playing with dirt and not minding it. I think that people will return to the old ways of being, when lip fillers , expensive cars, job status and follower count never ever made a difference in how people related to each other.
Thank you for reading me!
What a beautiful way to write, it is so true that we get lost as we grow up, we let ourselves be influenced by the opinion of others and the way we are supposed to live our lives. The greatest act of bravery and self love is to accept all the parts that create our essence and disregard the external even if it makes a lot of noise. 🧡
Yes we do get lost, I think it is the childlike part of ourselves that we push down and this is why we can often end up sulken and ....sometimes even a big Grouch. So I think it is so much needed now to just shed the burdains that have been placed on our shoulders and allow authenticity and plain reality to show up. And reality has...pores , pimples , goofiness and other problems hahaha. Thank you for reading!
Yes, @creativemary, we are unique. And that is a good thing, I believe.
Individualism in our time seems to have become something this is frowned upon. The public pressure to conform to some sort of "for the common good" standard is applied pretty consistently, through focus on what divides us. With loud proclamations about why this group or that group should be viewed one way or another. Based on what? Backed by whose authority?
Wouldn't our world be a healthier place to live and thrive, if we were free to just be ourselves, as your posts suggests? Focusing far more on what unites us?
Very good point! I want to believe that we can make a balance between the two. But I see your perspective which is valid and for some...even dangerous. There is a lot of power in owning what makes you unique and not conform to the crowd in the name of a common good. I need not to mention what happened in our past history when people united for various common goals. There is this myth that there is power in numbers. But hey...we had incredible individuals who were the rainbow sheeps, had little support and yet they changed the world! So owning this individual uniqueness is necessary if you want to have strong human beings with a capacity of discernment. And now we are deep into the black hole of who doesn't want that to happen...
Very good, @creativemary. We have at least some agreement, then:
I wholeheartedly agree. Thankfully, the world is still not totally devoid of such people. How much effort have been expended to reduce their numbers? To what end? 🤷♂️
To my eyes, a key word in your comment? Discernment. I would add to that wisdom. And state categorically I do not believe intelligence and wisdom are the same word. Is it possible to have too many people with at least some semblance of wisdom and discernment in our lives?
I do not think so, as having their counsel, to make well-informed decisions, has a value beyond measure. At least, I do not profess to be wise enough to measure it.
Indeed. 🤝
Exactly. When we were babies, we would do things, but when we are grown, you can hear people's words about your looks and all.
Where we make mistakes is when we try to be who we are not. No matter what, people will sti talk. The moment we understand that, the more we learn to be responsible for our life.
Yes this is one thing that most people do: always talking haha. Thank you for your feedback on this article!
Thank you!
!LADY