Life’s too Short to Be Someone You’re Not, So Be Yourself!

Life’s too short to be someone you’re not, so be yourself instead! Sounds easy, right? Yet, in a world where social media drives nearly every action and reaction, it’s all too tempting to change yourself to fit in with the latest trend. Forget #FOMO! We’re not scared of missing out, we’ve got a serious fear of not fitting in! It’s high time to let go of #FONFI. Let me tell you why below. Plus, check out some of my favorite quotes about being yourself!

Life’s Too Short to Be Anything but Yourself

The other day, I came across an anonymous quote that said, “In the end, people will judge you anyway, so don’t live your life impressing others—live your life impressing yourself.” It really is so true, especially in our hyper-connected world where literally everything you put out there is “open game” for harsh judgement from all corners of the world.

At some point, you start thinking there really is something wrong with you, something that needs changing. I mean, why else would your super cute outfit get no likes on Instagram or your insanely witty Tweet get no retweets?

“Maybe I deserved the verbal blood bath that followed my comment about the weather,” you think. Perhaps my adorable craft really wasn’t so crafty after all. Could it be that my outfit really is passé? Maybe I should have used more filters before I posted my beach vacation photos. A dozen more “maybes” and you’re on the fast track to changing yourself to fit in with the proverbial flock to impress the shepherd.

You Do You: Don’t Let Anyone Keep You from Being Yourself

Here’s a secret, though- those “shepherds” that appear to be leading the flock are really just sheep themselves. Researchers at Inderscience Publishers actually ran a study on the effect of “influencers” on the public. They found that while “most people form an opinion about a given subject when they are exposed to the views of opinion leaders,” those leaders in turn are influenced by mass media. Basically, the influencers have their own influencers!

Also, keep in mind that for every Tweet with 10K retweets, there are 100K that basically said the exact same thing yet fell flat. For every Instagram photo of a smoothie that gets 100K likes, there are a million more that went nowhere fast. And for every brilliant thought that your best friend posts on Facebook, there are a billion more mundane ones that she never shared.

In other words, if you’re modeling your behavior and personality around what social media says is “right” and “wrong,” you’re basically trying to live up to a standard that doesn’t actually exist.

Of course, social media isn’t to blame for our deep desire to fit in. We’ve acted this way long before the first tweet, pin, or status ever went up.  I’m willing to bet that even the Neanderthals based their personality around what the hippest caveman (or woman, of course) was doing! The world has always been full of leaders and followers, of sheep and shepherds.

Be Yourself Because Life’s Too Short to Worry About What Others Think

Here’s where I’d tell you to be a shepherd, not a sheep, right? Wrong! I mean, that would kind of defeat the purpose of this entire post, right?  No, here’s where I tell you to be what  and who you want to be. Period. End of sentence.

If you truly love following the latest trends and keeping up with the Kardashians (real or metaphorically speaking), go for it. As actual sheep will tell you, there’s nothing wrong with following the flock. If you want to be a shepherd and influence the masses with your wit and style, do it. Put yourself out there, set the trends, and don’t let anyone stop you.

Then there’s the third option. Break away from the flock. Do your own thing, be your own person. Not because “you do you” is trending or you want to impress people with your witty “just be yourself” memes. Not because you think you’ll come off as more edgy or laissez-faire if you march to the beat of your own drum. Certainly not because a stranger on the internet told you to. If those are your reasons, you’re just a sheep dressing up in wolves clothing.

Do it because you truly feel that it’s the only way to be true to yourself. Set your own rules. Define your own style. Never let anyone make you feel like you don’t measure up. As Judy Garland once said, “Always be a first-rate version of yourself and not a second-rate version of someone else.”

Being yourself has actual scientific benefits!

There are actually a few study-backed benefits to being yourself. Here are a few that caught my attention:

• A 2017 Rice University study found that being yourself at work actually makes you both healthier and more productive.
• A 2020 study discovered that it helped reduce anxiety.
• According to another 2017 study, this time at Brigham Young University, being true to yourself is the best way to fit in when you’re visiting foreign cultures (for example, during a trip to Paris).

Honestly, though, I don’t think we really need a study to tell us that it’s better to just be ourselves rather than trying to live our lives pretending to be someone else. It’s one of those “it goes without saying” things, don’t you think?

If you STILL need more convincing, perhaps this next section will do the trick!

Inspiring Quotes About Being Yourself

I came across a ton of quotes about being yourself that I really loved but didn’t have space for above. So I’m sharing them below instead. I hope they inspire you as much as they did me. 😀

1. “There’s a point, around the age of twenty, when you have to choose whether to be like everybody else the rest of your life, or to make a virtue of your peculiarities.” —Ursula K. Le Guin
2. “A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself-and especially to feel, or not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at any moment is fine with them. That’s what real love amounts to – letting a person be what he really is.” ― Jim Morrison
3. “Never dull your shine for somebody else.” ― Tyra Banks
4. “You cannot change what you are, only what you do.”― Philip Pullman
5. “Don’t let others box you into their idea of what they think you should be. A confined identity is a miserable way to exist. Be you and live free. Trust that in living true to yourself, you will attract people that support and love you, just as you are.” —Jaeda deWalt
6. “’Finding yourself’ is not really how it works. You aren’t a ten-dollar bill in last winter’s coat pocket. You are also not lost. Your true self is right there, buried under cultural conditioning, other people’s opinions, and inaccurate conclusions you drew as a kid that became your beliefs about who you are. ‘Finding yourself’ is actually returning to yourself. An unlearning, an excavation, a remembering who you were before the world got its hands on you.” —Emily McDowell
7. “No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.” —Buckminster Fuller
8. “Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?” —Charles Bukowski
9. “If you desire to make a difference in the world, you must be different from the world.” —Elaine S. Dalton
10. “Accept right now that you are magnificent. Being your real, true, authentic self is what’s most awesome about you.” —Gabby Bernstein
11. “About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won’t like you at all.” —Rita Mae Brown
12. “To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” —Bindi Irwin
13. “A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.” ― Coco Chanel
14. “You change the world by being yourself.” —Yoko Ono
15. “Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness.” —Allen Ginsberg
16. “When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.”― Lao Tzu
17. “When you are in your own lane there is no traffic.” —Ashley France
18. “Don’t you ever let a soul in the world tell you that you can’t be exactly who you are.”― Lady Gaga

Botton line, life’s too short to be someone you’re not, so be yourself. Leave the pretending to the actors. At least they’re getting paid for it!