Be All You Can Be

That is the message of so many self-help gurus, and it’s not a bad one. The slight problem I have with it is that it contains an unexplained expectation that being all you can be will include public recognition and even wealth.

It’s true. Some people will achieve that. Many won’t, though, and that’s not a criticism.

Think of the cathedral Builders of Medieval Europe – we don’t know their names, but we can see they achieved something sublime. Think of Vincent Van Gogh, who died in poverty, unrecognized. Jane Austen was undervalued while she was alive. And so on.

Some people are able to change an era, and no one notices what’s happened until years later. Or perhaps no one ever takes notice of them, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t contributed a huge amount that is, in fact, the very best of themselves.

That’s a version of being all you can be, too.