You Are You

You are you.  

Yeah, I know that sounds silly. But the thing is that everybody has their own unique perspective on things. Everybody does something different than everybody else. Everybody is who they are. And that applies just as much as it does to me as it does to you. You are different than everyone else is and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

People don't want to fundamentally change you to make you something different than what you actually are. It's fine to teach you how to do something; you are adding on to your skill set but not necessarily changing your perspective. But if the only way they can teach you how to do something is to change you into them, well, that's sort of missing the point. That's not teaching a skill; that's teaching a religion and that should be avoided. If someone insists that you can only learn from them by turning you into them, then you need to seriously debate letting them teach you.

We need as much uniqueness in the world as we can possibly yet. We need people with different perspectives, different skill sets, different perspectives. And if everybody was the same, if everybody, even a subset of people were exactly the same, this would be a problem because we need as many perspectives as needed. Different perspectives within a group means that the group also has different approaches to a situation, and that gives the group options when it comes to dealing with problems.

That's a good thing.

We lack sometimes that unique voice that we need to survive as a group. If we're heading towards danger, that unique voice and can pull us back from the edge just by saying, "Hey, look out!" We need people that are who they are, not who they think people think they should be. Sure, there's going to be exceptions to that. (If you're a serial killer, you need some serious help, at the very least.) But if you're not doing something that's harming somebody else, then you need to be yourself. 

(If you are harming yourself and/or other, then it's time to change what you're doing.)

But as long as you're not harming yourself, as long as you're actually expanding yourself, as long as you are becoming more you, then you should basically be doing whatever you feel necessary for you to accomplish whatever it is you want to accomplish. So, go out there, have some fun, screw what other people think, do what you need to do. 

And remember that you are not them. 

You are you