If I could go back in time and give my unwieldy, baggy-jeans wearing, 15 year-old self some advice, it would be this,
““FITTING-IN” is OVER-rated.”
If truth be told, my idealism at the current time would have trumped any advice.
A few years later, as a shapely dress, ambitious, 22 year-old college graduate, I was given the following advice,
“the promises of this world are not worth what we have to trade to get them.”
At 39, as an adult, I know both these statements to be true.
Bottom line: Things are not often what they seem.
Let’s take life’s 4 greatest illusionists for example….
Take money, for example…
Now I know that having money and being rich are vast differences.
I have met people who made more money than most of us would know what to do with it and then spent it all. Now, these people finance their houses, lease new cars, dress to kill and have nose job after nose job all to maintain an image.
And I have met those who drive beat-up old VW cars and wear worn-out blue jeans, baseball caps, and are worth millions.
What we see, or rather what we think we see, is not always what is.
Money can buy a portion of happiness, but the two illusions that money portrays is: 1) money is the root of all evil 2) money equals happiness.
…then there’s power…
I wish I could communicate to all those dealing with bullies how small bullies are.
Bullies feed off the power which others give them; however, if you start facing your giants now they will have very little power over you later.
There will always be those who want to squash your creativity, belittle your uniqueness, but this is not power!
It is the pinnacle of weakness, cowardice….. and it’s waiting for you to expose it.
So gird yourself!
Be brave.
As these characteristics will be required throughout your lifetime.
…let’s not forget fame..
Some of the most well known people I know are also the most lonely.
In fact, many of these people have traded success for fame, content to be known over doing something that mattered.
I know people who have millions online fans and don’t know where next month’s rent is coming from. They are more focused on a post, a social media “like.”
I’d compare it to the cost of a “cool” membership card.
To be liked and accepted by the masses is not all it’s cracked up to be.
Fame is a fickle mistress whose never quite satisfied. She will, in time, rob us for everything we have.
.… dare we wrap things up with SEX…
Maybe next time… 🙂
Bottom line truth: What makes you different, weird, out stand out in a crowd is what makes you – you! (post & tweet that!)
Learn to embrace who you are.
How you’ve wired!
Discover once again the things that make you tick!
All these urges to fit in and conform and be liked, won’t get you very far in life.
You will see that the weirdos….
the misfits….
the outcasts….
these are the people who get things done.
Who truly change the world.
There is a downside to being too popular and a cost to having too much money.
And there is a peculiar sort of wealth that accompanies struggle and lack, sometimes.
Don’t fight these things.
Don’t dream of another reality or try to be someone you’re not.
You will eventually regret the effort you spent on such pursuits and wish you would have stood up to to more bullies, stopped worrying so much about status, and got on with being the strangest, strongest version of yourself you could be.
As you move towards to who you are,
that special thing you were born to do,
you will find yourself accessing all the skills you once thought were weaknesses,
those embarrassing quirks and personality traits you used to hate,
and you will find a use for them all.
The things you wanted to wish away will become your greatest assets.
So now that you know these things, that everything that once seemed to matter actually doesn’t, what’re you going to do? Will you embrace who you are? Are you willing to accept the things that make you standout in a crowd? Or will you keep trying to fit in?
What’s something that makes you not fit in that you need to embrace instead of avoid?Share in the comments below.
