Most people live their entire lives as complete strangers to themselves. Don't let that happen to you. Leo Buscaglia counseled, "The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position."
"If God had wanted you otherwise, He would have created you otherwise" (Goethe). Dare to be what you are. Resolve to be yourself. A Congolese proverb asserts, "Wood may remain ten years in the water, but it will never become a crocodile." The Bible asks, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?" (Jer. 13:23) Julius Hare advises, "Be what you are. This is the first step towards becoming better than you are."
"My mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier you'll become a general, if you become a monk you'll end up as the pope.' Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso," said the great painter. No one ever became great by imitation. Don't be a copy of something. Make your own impression.
"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change" (Carl Rogers). Worn out paths are for worn out men. Friedrich Klopstock remarked, "He who has no opinion of his own, but depends on the opinions of others is a slave. To only dream of the person you are supposed to be is to waste the person you are." Nobody is so disappointed and so unhappy as the person who longs all of life to be somebody other than who he really is.
The person who trims himself to suit everybody will soon whittle himself away. All people are created equal and endowed by their Creator with a mighty urge to become otherwise. If you don't have a plan for you own life, you'll only become a part of someone else's. You can't carry two faces under one hat. Never wish to be anything but what you are. "It is better to be hated for what you are, than loved for what you are not" (Andre Gide).
"All the discontented people I know are trying to be something they are not, to do something they cannot do" (David Grayson). When you will not dare to be yourself, you will lack confidence and will crave admiration continually. You will live on the reflection of yourself in the eyes of others.
"Man is more interesting than men. It's him, not them, whom God made in His image. Each is more precious than all" (Andre Gide). "All the good things which exist are the fruit of originality" (John Mills). There is only one life for each of us—our own. The person who walks in another's tracks never leaves his own footprints. Doris Mortman observed, "Until you make peace with who you are, you will never be content with what you have." Most of our challenges in life come from not knowing ourselves and ignoring our best, real virtues.
Most people live their entire lives as complete strangers to themselves. Don't let that happen to you. The Bible says in 1 Kings, "Why feignest thou thyself to be another?" (14:5) Leo Buscaglia counseled, "The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position." The opposite of courage is not fear. It is conformity. The most exhausting and frustrating thing in life is to live it trying to be someone else.
Excerpt permission granted by Insight Publishing
John Mason is a highly regarded international speaker, minister, professional author coach and best-selling author. He is the founder and president of Insight International and Insight Publishing Group.
