August 25, 2003
Be Yourself!
People often give this advice for every manner of occasion, but I think that it is slightly flawed.
“Yourself?” Who is this person? We all have and wear so many different versions of ourselves… how do we know which self to be? Instead, I think that this particular saying/advice should go more like… “Be this you, and be consistant about it.”
Posted by David under Uncategorized |
I disagree. Part of life is self-discovery. Understanding yourself and what you want to be. To be yourself is to be who you are when you’re not thinking about it. They’re not instructing you to choose a particular facade. They’re telling you to discover for yourself who and what you are and be that person. Also, there is no reason for you to be consistent about it. At any point in life you may reach an epiphany and discover something about yourself or the world you never realized before. From that point on your view on life and the world may be greatly altered. As a result, your personality, the way you act, the things you say, all of that can change.
Comment by Eric — August 27, 2003 @ 4:30 am
I see what you’re saying. I was thinking with the short-term in mind. I don’t think what you have said excludes what I have said. What I was hinting at was our nature to be slightly different for different people / occasions. For instance, I might act differently with my friends than I would in an interview, which would be different from a formal ceremony, which would be different from a sporting event.
So, when you ask someone a question along the lines of… “How should I act?” to see what behavior is appropriate for an unknown situation, and you receive the clichéd advice “Just be yourself” it doesn’t really help out all that much… at least not to a literalist who thinks to much.
Comment by David — August 28, 2003 @ 12:53 am