Express yourself

While I've said this before, I think it's worth rephrasing. We spend too much time thinking about what other people think of us and not enough of what we think of ourselves.

Being our own person means being the person we want to be, not the one someone else wants us to be. When we're little kids we go by what our parents want us to be. When we get a bit older people tend to either go by the opposite of what our parents want or by what our friends want. Everyone does this. But I think if we really want to make a change in the world, we have to concentrate on what and who we want to be.

I wish I were in a place where I could say how that's possible, but I'm really not. In some ways I try to follow my own desires and expectations for ourselves, but over and over I find myself following the expectations of others. Friends, family, bosses, peers, teachers. It's hard to let go of the desire to please. We are always trying to please those around us. I'm not saying that pleasing people is wrong. I mean, if we just did what we wanted to do and weren't cautious with the needs of people around us, we would just be assholes. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is a really fine line between being our own person and being an asshole and being a pushover. A fine line between all three of those things. In the middle is being our own person and we have to try not to fall on one of the other two sides.

So express yourself. Try being yourself, really yourself, for a change, rather than being who we think others should perceive us as.

Cheers,

-T.A.D.