Just Be Who You Are

We are often groomed by our culture and society to be what is expected and I find that many times in life we say how to live but don’t often live how we say we should. Thinking about it, one can easily get fed up and just decide that perhaps we should stop saying it if we aren’t going to follow through. Admittedly, I’ve had thoughts like that. But if we stop reminding ourselves of what we should do, it’s possible that it’ll be forgotten all together and we’ll lose ourselves in the process. That’s why it’s important to just be who you are, despite society and our culture. This is also not meant to discredit a person’s parental upbringing.

So where am I going with this (you knew there had to be that question)? I recently had the opportunity to watch Susan Cain’s TED video Power of the Introvert and my first thought after watching that video was “omg that’s me!” For a small moment it felt really great to see someone else I had something in common with, but as I watched the video, I realized Susan’s message was two-fold.

First, it’s important that our society be a bit more accepting—not just about introverts but quite frankly, anything we find different. Different shouldn’t mean wrong or bad. In addition to this, Susan also stated that for introverts, it was important to open up your suitcase and let the world see what you have inside. This basically means that those of us who are introverts need to meet the world halfway and occasionally share parts of ourselves. In broader terms, I would interpret this in a way that means that those who are different also need to do their part, whatever that may be. This could be in educating or teaching others, accepting others’ differences just as you’d like them to accept yours. It’s not only being who you are but accepting others as well.

For those of you who are interested in learning more, Susan Cain’s video can be found here.

Happy writing to you all this week!

Filed under: Toni Kelly, Writer's Life