The first topic from a random topic generator which caused me to stop and consider writing. A topic that is at once intensely personal and strangely universal.
I think that I spend a lot of time thinking about who I want to become but not as much time thinking about who I am. I want to be in better shape, I want to write griping stories, speak more eloquently, teach effectively, and care about people sincerely. But that is more about becoming what I want myself to be and not being myself.
I think I often don’t think about myself since I so easily see my faults that the idea of being myself seems to indicate a complacency about the parts of myself which I should change. I think, ironically, that when people tell others to “be themselves” they are asking them to change who they are. They are asking them to put down their façade, to be more vulnerable, or to allow themselves access to a part of the person which the person may not be willing to show.
This brings up an interesting question, “If putting up a facade or a wall is the habit of a person, does that become a part of the person or is the person behind that.” In other words if a person acts shy, but inwardly has many opinions to express is the shyness any less a part of them than being opinionated?
But I digress from my introspection. I think that being yourself involves embracing and strengthening what is good about yourself. Being the you that you like, accept, and want to encourage. We all have parts of us that we want to eliminate our cowardice, our anger, our impatience, our lust, or our clumsiness. But being yourself means doing what you’re good at, being the you that you enjoy. It helps us to define ourselves more by our strengths. It means making others laugh if we think we’re funny, it means being creative it we think ourselves artistic, it means being there for a friend if we think ourselves loyal. It is a call to be both true to ourselves and to exercise our skills to the best of our abilities.
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