Monday, January 31, 2011
The Courage to Be Yourself*
“To be nobody but myself- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else-means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never
stop fighting…”
E.E. Cummings
I love this quote, and although I don’t want to think of it as a fight, there have been many days where I personally felt I was involved in an overwhelming battle of my own mind. It was a
huge conflict with what I wanted to be vs. who I was told I had to be.
I think in today’s world it really takes courage to be different and unique. I think it takes courage to say what you mean and act naturally, using your unique talents and intuition to take
a different path than everyone else.
Our society, and its major institutions, often dictates what you have to do and how you have to do it. They also tell you the level of performance they expect from you even though they
have not taken the time to determine the best ways for you to do it. They have not encouraged you to go out and explore creative, diverse ways of thinking and doing the mandated tasks
and assignments you are being told to complete.
