Why Is It Important and Positive to Be Yourself?
Because yourself is the only person you can be. What that looks like, however, is up to you.
I had to put a great deal of work into becoming who I am.
That’s not to say in any way, shape, or form that I’m fully-formed or perfect. Nope, I’m still a work in progress. But the choice to be myself – and to work on what that means – was mine.
It’s really important to be yourself. Why? Because who else can you be?
It might seem like a stupid question. But really, it’s not.
I’ve tried to be someone else. I emulated another person’s way of being and attempted to be more like them than me.
Do you know how that worked out? Poorly. Why? Because I wasn’t them.
Here’s the thing. The only person in your head, heart, and soul is you. Nobody else can think, feel, act, intend, nor use your six senses to know the world around them – but you. And only you.
Are we ever taught to recognize and understand this? No, not in formal schooling. But as children, when we’re just interacting with our environment and the people around us – we’re only ourselves. Because that’s all we know how to be.
Then, as we get a bit older, society starts measuring us against one another. We’re compared, contrasted, and given expectations from friends, family, teachers, leaders, and even random strangers.
Unchecked, this leads to us seeking outside validation – as well as becoming something to reflect what’s expected of us – over our own self-born expectations.
What we’re told isn’t true
We’re often told that person ‘x’ is amazing, has it totally together, and we should be more like them. They’re better looking, wiser, smarter, more popular, and richer. Thinner, have better hair, and I could go on and on with a ludicrous list of other ways we’re given this message.
This simply isn’t true. How do I know? Because you can be only you, just as he can only be him, she can only be her, they can only be them, and so on. Ergo, just because you’ve been told to be more like them – you can do so only in an utterly superficial way.
No matter how much we think it would be good or better to be that other person – or be more like that other person – that’s an unfair and unrealistic comparison.
Why? Because that person is the only one in their head, heart, and soul. For all you know – just as you compare or are being compared to them – they might compare or are being compared to you. And you can’t know this or not because you’re not them. You’re yourself.
Yourself is who you are and who you will always be. And there’s nothing wrong with this – in fact, it’s a ginormous positive.
Even if you dislike who you are in various ways – you can change. Change being the one and only constant in the Universe – you can control it.
That’s a matter of practical mindfulness – as in active conscious awareness of yourself.
Be yourself – everyone else is taken
When Oscar Wilde said this, he was not wrong. But more than that – you, yourself, are pretty damned amazing.
Sure, you might not feel that way. There might be things you’d like to change about yourself. Welcome to the club.
But to choose change, you need to accept yourself for yourself.
This is easier said than done, particularly in the face of so many messages to the contrary. Just about every advertisement tries to sell you on something lacking in yourself that the given product or service will repair/replace.
I know there’s room for improvement in who I am. Mentally, emotionally, physically, and even spiritually – there’s room for growth, change, and improvement. However, underlying this – I’ve come to like who I am, warts and all.
Yeah, I’m imperfect. Sometimes I’m more opinionated than I should be. There are times I’ve worn my heart on my sleeve only to open myself to it being ripped away. More often than I care to admit, my inner demons and brain weasels get in the way of my being my best self.
The thing is – that’s just being human. That’s life. In being myself, that’s my experience.
When you are yourself, you might experience something similar. I can’t know for sure, since I can’t be in your head, heart, or soul. But I do know that all of us have fears, doubts, discomfort, and occasional dislike of ourselves.
When we recognize and acknowledge this, however, we open ourselves to better work with it. Through conscious awareness – and applied mindfulness – we can get comfortable as ourselves, and/or make adjustments and changes.
Nothing is set in stone
Who you are – within and without – is changeable. Transformation is one of the greatest powers human beings possess.
Often, we mostly focus on what outside of ourselves we can change. But more importantly, we’re empowered to make incredible changes to ourselves. For ourselves.
And sometimes – change simply isn’t as necessary nor as positive as just recognizing, acknowledging, and being ourselves. Being yourself.
No matter the challenges you face, the struggles you have, nor the imperfections, difficulties, or whatnot – you, yourself, are an amazing being. Perhaps you don’t feel that all too often – but that doesn’t make it any less true.
Why? Because every single human being on this planet is unique. All the nearly 8 billion of us on this planet have our own individual, unique talents, skills, abilities, personalities, bearings, and so on. Every single one of us can build and create amazing things within and without.
You, yourself, included.
If you’re dissatisfied with any element of who you are – it can be changed. Nothing about you is written in stone. You’re transmutable, changeable, and malleable to your own inner desires. And who you desire to be – so long as you have no intent to hurt, harm, or thwart others in the process – is worthy and deserving of you.
Being yourself is massively positive because it empowers you to choose. To choose who, what, where, how, and why you are. To change as you desire for your own betterment.
When you are as genuine and true to yourself as possible – you’re empowered. And that means you can do nearly anything you can imagine.
And that is why it’s both important and positive to be yourself. So that you can have and make use of all your power to the best of your ability.
Recognizing why it’s important and positive to be yourself isn’t hard
It’s all about working with mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, and intentions to direct your actions.
When we actively work to be ourselves – whether by getting to know ourselves or making active changes to ourselves – we’re doing something positive for our lives. Knowing that you, yourself are the only one in your head, heart, and soul, you can use that to your advantage to be the most genuine, true, best you that you can be.
This empowers you – and in turn, your empowerment can empower others around you. That can expand to change the bigger picture matters, too.
Choosing for ourselves employs positivity for realizing amazing potential and possibilities for our lives.
Taking an approach to positivity and negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts matters in a way to open more dialogue. In that form, we can explore and share where we are between the extremes and how that impacts us here and now.
Lastly, the better aware we are of ourselves in the now, the more we can do to choose and decide how our life experiences will be. When that empowers us, it can also open those around us to their own empowerment. And that is, to me, a worthwhile endeavor to explore and share.
Thank you for coming along on this journey with me.
This is the four hundred-and-fifty-eighth entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
Please visit here to explore all my published works – both fiction and non-fiction.
Please take a moment to sign up for my newsletter. Fill in the info and click the submit button to the right and receive a free eBook.
Follow me here!
