A Pleasant Thought

When we hear the instruction to 'be yourself', we don't scoff. We don't dismiss it laughingly or become impatient as though it were nonsense. We don't demand of the speaker, "How could I be anyone else?" We don't question the statement because intuitively we recognize its validity: we all have a hard time being ourselves. Often we take our games too seriously and end up believing our delusions. We allow for some dishonesty in order to obtain better standing, but our lies shut us in from behind like a locked door. We are sealed into our minds along with our terrible secret: we feel like we are being fake. At some point we wanted to be someone else, but now we really just want to be ourselves.

But if we're not being ourselves, than who are we? Well, somebody else. It doesn't matter who, it's just not us. If we've become someone we're embarrassed about, someone who does things we regret, we don't have to get angry at ourselves. Because it isn't us; it's somebody else. That person may be an idiot, and we may be idiots for letting them do what they want, but there's no need to take it personally. It's not that we're innocent, it's just that we have no reason to identify with our bad selves. Or our good selves, for that matter. So we can all relax.