8. Stop comparing yourself to others. If youre always striving to be someone youre not already, youll never be a happy person. This comes about through comparing yourself to others and finding your-self wanting in certain ways. This is a slippery slope to tread, though. You can always see the appearances others wish to portray publicly but you wont ever see whats really going on behind their façades in their apparently perfect world. By comparing yourself to others, you give their image-portrayal way too much power and reduce your own worth based on a mirage. Its a useless activity that only brings harm. Instead, value the person you are, love your personality, and embrace your flaws; we all have them, and as explained earlier, being honest is better than running from them. • Avoid being unfair to yourself. Sometimes comparison causes us to compare apples with pears. Wed like to be a top movie producer in Hollywood when were a lowly, aspiring scriptwriter. To see that top producers lifestyle and find yourself wanting as a result is an unfair comparison – that person has years of experience and hobnobbing behind them, while youre just starting out, testing the waters with writing skills that may one day prove to be exceptional. Be realistic in your comparisons and only look to other people as inspiration and as sources of motivation, not as a means to belittling yourself. • Never stop looking for your own strengths. Over time, these may change and thus, so may your definition of yourself, but never let up in focusing and refocusing on them. They more than adequately balance out your flaws and are the principal reason for not comparing yourself to others. • Comparison leads to resentment. A person filled with resentment cannot focus on the mantra of be yourself because they are too busy hankering after someone else! • Comparison leads also to criticism of others. A life filled with criticizing others stems from low self-esteem and a need to pull others off their perches that youve placed them on. Thats both a way to lose friends and respect, and its also a way of never being yourself because youre envy-struck and spending too much time on admiring others for their characteristics and not on yourself. 9. Follow your own style. The common thing a lot of people do is copy others actions because it seems like the better route to fit in, but really, shouldnt you stand out? Standing out is very hard, yes, but you need to try avoid assuming other peoples perspectives of you, even if its not something you would normally do; thats what being yourself is all about. Maybe you like to sit outside on the deck under an umbrella in the middle of the rain, maybe you have different ideas of things, rather than other people, and maybe you like strawberry cake instead of the common chocolate cake, whatever you are, accept it. Being different is absolutely beautiful and it attracts people to you. Dont let people change you! 10. Accept that some days youre the pigeon, and that some days you are the statue. People might raise eyebrows and even make fun, but as long as you can shrug and say Hey, thats just me and leave it at that, people will ultimately respect you for it, and youll respect yourself. Yes, sometimes it will hurt when youre teased. Just learn to ignore it. While this can be very difficult, and far easier said than done, try your best to flick it off your shoulder.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 08:54:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015