INDIVIDUALILTY

“It is important to foster individuality
for only the individual can produce the new ideas”
-Albert Einstein.

The greatest gift you can ever give yourself is embracing all that you are unapologetically. One can deduce that the center of this beautiful embrace is individuality. According to the English Oxford Dictionary, “the quality or character of a particular person or thing that distinguishes them from others of the same kind, especially when strongly marked”.

In this day and age, I wouldn’t say it’s quite difficult but I can say that it is really easy to be distracted by being someone that you are not. It might be hard for you to come in terms with this fact, but one way or the other it’s the bitter truth. From so many observations and surveys, I’ve come with the terms that there are different reasons for this. We all know that social media is a huge and major factor or reason for this but let’s put that aside for now. The two most common reasons are because one wants to be accepted. Well, put in better words, fear of rejection and the second reason is in order to impress the other party. This is commonly seen where the other party is of the opposite sex. What I’ve come to realize is that most of the time, it is not always intentional, one just finds him or herself in such situation and its quite difficult to ‘bounce’ back hence, one has to keep up with such ‘persona’ that he/she has created for him/herself as regard that circumstance. No matter what the reason might be, even if it’s not part of the reasons mentioned above, one question you need to ask yourself is “what makes you, YOU?”. As mentioned earlier, your individuality is your greatest gift, no one can be you and that’s your power. Once you start to lose your sense of individuality, you lose a part of yourself.

In fact, there are so many bible passages that make reference to ‘individuality’ as such. My best reference as regards this topic is 1 Corinthians 14:7 [ESV] “if even lifeless instruments such as flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played?” even the bible recognizes distinctiveness, it recognizes individuality so, who in the world has the right not to accept you for who you are? Why do you feel obliged to change who you are so you can be accepted by others? That moment you change who you are or a part of who are, out of fear of rejection or in order to be accepted, you’ve given the world that power over you. According to Dave Grohl, “No one is you and that’s your power”. Ralph Waldo Emerson also stated that “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment”. Don’t go ahead making decisions because “EVERYONE” is making that decision. Hence, embrace your individuality; love what you love without worrying about judgment.

My dear; live, learn, love, and smile.