This world has been telling us to ‘be yourself,’ but recently, I have found flaws in this thought process. If I find someone irresponsible by nature and his core is not to be in harmony with his environment, shall I still tell him to ‘be himself’?
As per the theories of evolution, we were as small as a single cell bacteria once. If we had decided to ‘be that form’ as the bacteria cell, then no evolution was ever possible. The bacterial cell decided not to be itself and evolved into so many complex creatures we see today, including us. Life means growth, adapting to many situations, possibly taking many forms, and playing many roles.
We are always ‘ourselves’ as a fundamental element of human expression. Whatever we do, speak, and think are no one else than us. If we are in misery, pain, and struggling throughout our life, then shall we still ‘be ourselves’ and continue the same path to fail?
We often hear that we need to be ourselves at a job or in a relationship. If it means ‘follow your passion,’ then it makes sense; but if it means to continue being ‘arrogant’ or ‘careless’ or ‘disrespectful,’ then we have a big problem to be our own selves. What if being yourself is not that great? What if the problems we created in our lives are because we were ourselves?
Today’s fundamental problem in the ‘motivation industry’ is that they tell you to be ‘yourself’ and then ask, who is your ‘role-model’? They tell us to be our own self and at the same time, follow someone else! I think ‘be yourself’ has issues in the message it conveys. I would want to evolve as a person and be a better version of myself; can I be a new version of ‘being myself’?
We have also heard that ‘change is the only permanent thing’ and ‘be the change you wish to see in the world,’ right? I think I like these phrases better. I would propose a simple exercise to try not to be own self for a week and see how you feel about it. Some call it the ‘role-play’ exercise.
As part of this process, (1) you should decide what you want to become, write down the characteristics of a better version of you, traits you always wanted to possess or learn. (2) Think of that new version of you as a different person, and write down all the things that person will do, like how he will walk (winner’s walk), speak (winner’s speech), and behave (interact with surroundings). What are the things he would agree or disagree with? This is a simple role-play exercise and could be an enjoyable way to learn the better part of ourselves. See for yourself how you feel after the ‘role-play’ exercise of a week and if you still want to be yourself.
Let’s not use ‘be yourself’ as advice to diminish our chances of evolving as human beings or hiding our inappropriate attributes of human nature.
