The Difficulty of Walking Your Own Path
It's not always easy to walk your own path, especially if it goes against current trends and fashion. But what else are you to do?
Well meaning friends might make suggestions like, “You should be more like X,” or, “X does it this way.” And then there's our own, insecure inner monologue saying, “Why can't I be more like Z,” or, “Maybe I could do better if I copied Z.”
But we quickly find that when we step into someone else's world, we step out of our own. And the main problem is, that when we try to be like someone else, we are always just a copy. We can never be the original, and this is why we are always a step or two behind, because we're following, not leading.
When we first start out in something, we often copy others, but that's a part of the learning process. As we continue, we should eventually grow out of copying and move into doing our own thing. Too often I see people who never get beyond the copying stage. Maybe that's all they aspire to, or maybe they're afraid to leave the security of being a copy, or maybe they are just lazy. Face it, if you copy someone else, you don't have to do the difficult, initial work of coming up with ideas.
Look at your idols or inspiration in whatever activity you are involved in. Do you follow a copy, or an original? Think about it—do you follow a copy, or an original? The difference is, one is a first hand experience, and the other is a second hand experience. If you copy a copy, then you become a third hand experience.
If all you aspire to be is a copy, then that's your choice, but you may be cheating yourself and your own creativity. Understand that I'm not saying you have to be Einstein or Stephen Hawking, Michael Jordan or Venus Williams, Meryl Streep or Tom Hanks. But there is an important part of yourself that has something original to offer the world. If you take the time to nurture it, and present it to others, you may actually inspire another, as someone inspired to you.
The internet has offered us so much possibility to be, but I've also seen so many people just being like someone else. the choice is yours.
~ MB
Well meaning friends might make suggestions like, “You should be more like X,” or, “X does it this way.” And then there's our own, insecure inner monologue saying, “Why can't I be more like Z,” or, “Maybe I could do better if I copied Z.”
But we quickly find that when we step into someone else's world, we step out of our own. And the main problem is, that when we try to be like someone else, we are always just a copy. We can never be the original, and this is why we are always a step or two behind, because we're following, not leading.
When we first start out in something, we often copy others, but that's a part of the learning process. As we continue, we should eventually grow out of copying and move into doing our own thing. Too often I see people who never get beyond the copying stage. Maybe that's all they aspire to, or maybe they're afraid to leave the security of being a copy, or maybe they are just lazy. Face it, if you copy someone else, you don't have to do the difficult, initial work of coming up with ideas.
Look at your idols or inspiration in whatever activity you are involved in. Do you follow a copy, or an original? Think about it—do you follow a copy, or an original? The difference is, one is a first hand experience, and the other is a second hand experience. If you copy a copy, then you become a third hand experience.
If all you aspire to be is a copy, then that's your choice, but you may be cheating yourself and your own creativity. Understand that I'm not saying you have to be Einstein or Stephen Hawking, Michael Jordan or Venus Williams, Meryl Streep or Tom Hanks. But there is an important part of yourself that has something original to offer the world. If you take the time to nurture it, and present it to others, you may actually inspire another, as someone inspired to you.
The internet has offered us so much possibility to be, but I've also seen so many people just being like someone else. the choice is yours.
~ MB
Chop Wood / Carry Water / Play Gongs™
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