Be Yourself, but Different

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

― Oscar Wilde

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

― George Bernard Shaw

The old adage says to be yourself. But what self are you presenting to the world? Surely there are at least ten sides of you. So how can you possibly choose?

I have a few friends (and a spouse) who are better than me. They are more peaceful, patient, and kind than I am. They’re levels above me. And I love to hang out with them and I want to hang out more. So if I want to be in a permanent relationship with these fine people, I can’t let out my old attitudes of anger, bitterness, and pettiness.

And even though they’re the best people, I know they will not tolerate my old attitudes forever, and it’s not what I want to cultivate. When I am around the best people, I neglect the worst parts of me. It’s a great “excuse” to level up and find new frontiers of networks and to develop the strongest parts of myself into something even more ascendant.

I have a greater goal to be a greater person. In my ascent, I can’t carry the old backpack of the old attitudes. The old attitudes could strain these relationships into something that is untenable. I can’t be myself.

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