Be yourself, your best self
Imitation is Suicide. Insist on yourself; never imitates – Ralph Waldo Emerson
We love to imitate others. Karaoke proves it, air guitar and Rock Band.
We love to imitate, repeat with me, political commentators; much easier than taking the long way out and formulating our thoughts and responses based on our deepest values and guiding codes.
We love to imitate those above us in business. We buy the cars they have, live in similar houses/neighborhoods, vacation in the same places, and wear the same costumes (as if the costume gives us an extra boost of superpowers, which maybe it does).
We love to imitate those who lead our religious groups. This is extremely obvious, as well as a bit embarrassing, when someone who swears like a sailor (no offense to sailors, as I’m not sure they really swear any more than, say, a banker) imitates what their perception of a good religious person. when he is near a priest, a rabbi or a minister.
We love to imitate being part of the group that wears the ‘correct’ items. We love wearing a certain brand of shoes, using a certain electronic device, drinking a brand-name cup of coffee, and watching the ‘in’ TV shows.
We love to imitate thinking as part of a group. The herd mentality of such a group keeps us safe and free from having to do the heavy lifting it takes to think thoughts and the corresponding actions of our true core political, spiritual, social, relational, and financial values.
In some areas we must imitate. We know that financial success almost always comes with slow and steady, not winning the lottery. Not imitating those who have gone before us, in some way, is not wise. We know that diets do not work to lose weight, so we must imitate those who follow a sensible diet, a healthy lifestyle, exercise and low calories, powerfully packed.
Nobody cares about an artist who imitates Picasso. His is not art, just imitations. Nobody cares who sounds like the Beatles in 2011. The Beatles are the Beatles and no one else should try to sound like them.
What would happen if you stopped imitating in just one area?
(Please keep taking showers, mowing the lawn, and stopping at red lights, you know what I mean.)
Who are you imitating at work and it’s killing you?
Who are you imitating in your religious environment and is it driving you crazy?
What cultures are you imitating that lock you in and prevent you from growing up and getting out?
Whose thoughts are you imitating keeping you stuck?
Go ahead, insist on being yourself. I dare you.