NOVEL IDEA: BE YOURSELF
Do you know anyone who has tried to model his
life on someone else, be it a celebrity, a family
member–whoever? They say imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery. I say imitation is the
number one killer of individualism. Be yourself. It’s
who you were meant to be. But people often see
possibilities in others and only limitations in
themselves. If you see a man driving a nice car,
you may want that car, but you have no idea about
what kind of hard work, struggle, and sacrifice he
may have had to go through to enable him to have
a car like that. Sallust, a Roman historian, once
said, “If they envy my distinction let them also
envy my toils.” If you never look beyond the
persona, image, or public facades of anyone who
seems to have the things you aspire to, it’s easy to
feel like everybody’s life is better than yours.
You’re thinking that all you have is struggles,
setbacks, and one obstacle after another. Well,
believe me, the guy with the fancy car has
obstacles of his own. So instead of wishing you
were in the car, you could be tackling the
obstacles that stand between you and that car by
being true to your vision. Be yourself; everyone else is taken.