Free To Be You

Be Yourself. All Others Are Already Taken. 

The easiest thing in the world is to be yourself. But sometimes the hardest thing in the world is to be yourself.

Why the apparent contradiction?

Because throughout your life many people will be pushing and pulling you to be something else, something they want you to be. But you do not want to conform to other people's desires and standards. You want to be true to yourself.

"To be nobody but yourself in a world that is doing its best day and night into making you like everybody else," said poet E. E. Cummings, "is to fight the hardest battle there is and never stop fighting."

Or, as Oscar Wilde said, "Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." 

Only you get to decide what you will do, when you will do it, and how much effort you will put into it. Only you get to decide what is of importance to you. Only you set your own standards, morals, principles, and values.

Sure, others will try to exert influence on many aspects of your life and your character. Such influence, however, is not decision-making authority. At the end of the day, all decisions about you, your future and your path are yours and yours only.

The greater the depth of your own self understanding, the greater will be your control and confidence in the decisions you make about yourself and your future. There is no need to please anyone else, much less everyone else, and thus you need not try. 

You are free to be you. It's what we call Living A Determined Life.

This article is excerpted from our top-selling personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon.