The value of being yourself

The value of being yourself
                        

“There is only one person like you.” —Fred Rogers

In my last column, we looked at doing things the way everyone wants us to do them. However, there is another side of the coin, and it can be just as awful as when people demand we do things their way.

We see people we look up to, and it seems like they have it all together, so we try to mimic them, like a parrot mimics its owner. We try to reproduce the same success they have. Success is often tailor-made to the person. It’s a combination of personality, hard work, determination and so much more.

We all have an opportunity to be a success, but we don’t have the opportunity to be successful at the same thing. Unlike the popular idea of the day, we don’t have an equal chance at everything.

On the surface this sounds terrible, but as we dig beneath, we can see the greatness of the statement. No two people are alike. If we were, then this would be a boring place to live. The idea of fairness is a good one, unless we try to apply it to everything.

Fairness can be applied to most areas of life, but there will always be areas where people will stand out. As a boy I dreamed about being a great baseball player, but I can’t hit a 90 mph fastball, let alone a home ran. I even told my mom I was going to hit practice every day to get good enough to make it in the majors. I think I tried it for a few days, then gave it up.

I could try to do everything the greats did, but I would never make it. I can’t go and demand a million-dollar deal to play baseball, but likewise, how many baseball players can write a column?

We must be ourselves. If you don’t know your purpose, simply ask God. Only he knows what we are here for. “You have not, because you ask not” (James 4:2). God is expecting us to ask because he wants to be involved in our day-to-day life. Go ahead and ask. What will it hurt?

One good thing about life is we get to try different opportunities — if one doesn’t work, then move on to the next thing. I believe there is too much pressure put on people to figure out what they want to do with their life. Most of us need time to get our feet wet and explore what is out there. We shouldn’t be pushed into a field just because it sounds good.

We also can borrow from other people — an idea from here and one from there, and turn them into our own. There may be bumps along the way, but if we keep working on it and mix things up, there is no telling how high we can go.


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