Just Do You: 5 Reasons Why You Should Be Yourself

Be yourself and stop worrying about others. In today’s time, most of us feel pressured to adapt to our surroundings and think we need to change ourselves in order to fit in. There is a lot of external pressure to be a certain way and many things that will influence who you are. While society is an ever-changing dynamic, it’s essential to stand your ground and remain yourself, both inside and out. You need to stay true to yourself and understand your boundaries so that you don’t get pushed around by others. Every person is different in many ways and that is what makes us all unique.

Don’t confuse my personality with my attitude. My personality is who I am and my attitude depends on who you are.

Frank Ocean

If there’s any quote that I can completely relate to, it’s this quote by Frank Ocean.

If you want to live your life trying to impress other people, It will definitely not end well. Could it be that you lack self-confidence? If that is the case, click here to read my post on 10 great ways to boost your self-confidence

Do you know that even people you don’t know may not like you? I’ve actually experienced something like that before. I’m not going to lie, it was actually very funny, but let me not go into the details.

Another category of people who’s opinions shouldn’t matter in your life are those people who pretend to be your friends whereas they actually dislike you.

Friendship is not about who acts true to your face. It’s about people who remain true behind your back.

annonymous

Who Is An Acquaintance?

An acquaintance is a person you know, but who is not a close friend. It’s the person you run into in the hallway or feel comfortable meeting in a group setting, but usually not by yourself.

Who Is A Friend?

A friend on the other hand is a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations.

In a new report published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Associate Professor of Communication Studies Jeffrey Hall found that it takes roughly 50 hours of time together to move from mere acquaintance to casual friend, 90 hours to go from that stage to simple “friend” status and more than 200 hours before you can consider someone your close friend.

This means time spent hanging out, joking around, playing video games and the like. Hours spent working together just don’t count as much, Hall’s study found. “We have to put that time in,” Hall said. “You can’t snap your fingers and make a friend. Maintaining close relationships is the most important work we do in our lives — most people on their deathbeds agree.”

The problem that most people have is that they can’t distinguish between when to turn an acquaintance into a friend and when to just leave someone as an acquaintance. On my next post, I’ll give you some tips on how to know if you should make someone your friend or leave the person in the acquaintance zone.

5 Reasons Why You Should Be Yourself

Every person is different in many ways and that is what makes us all unique! Here are 5 extremely important reasons why it’s essential to always be yourself.

1. Being yourself allows you to form your own values and beliefs.

One of the biggest advantages you gain by being yourself is that it allows you to form your own values and beliefs. When you keep looking externally and trying to be like someone else, you tend to take on their values and beliefs which are clearly visible. Slowly and steadily, you begin to conform to others’ expectations and their thoughts which makes you fluctuate and stutter. This comes across as extremely disingenuous and people will start to distance themselves from you. Your values and what you stand for define who you are. So, it’s extremely important that you stay true to them.

2. It enables you to establish your own identity.

Your values and beliefs lay a foundation for you. This, in turn, helps you establish your own sense of identity. It is extremely important to always remember who you are and where you’ve come from. An identity ensures that you and others will always know who you are. Sure, there will be times when you may stray from the path or get distracted, but just knowing who you are can help get you back on the right path. Without your own identity, you’re just another fish in the sea.

3. It establishes your boundaries

It is always important to set your boundaries and limits. If you don’t, it becomes extremely easy for people to walk all over you and take advantage. When you’re unsure about who you are, those lines get extremely blurred and it becomes extremely hard to stand up for yourself or realize when people are taking you for granted. When you have the courage to be yourself, you can set your boundaries and you’ll always know when someone is trying to cross them. It is essential to have created and established your boundaries if you want to survive in today’s time.

4. Being yourself helps you gain focus and direction

When you stay true to who you are as a person, you are more likely to know the goals and dreams you want to accomplish. You are also more determined to figure out how you want to go about achieving those goals. Think about it, if you’re constantly trying to conform to other people’s expectations, when are you going to have the time to focus on the important things? Your lack of direction and drive will come across to others as well. Knowing who you are and being confident in that is something that will give you so much more time to focus on the important things in life, instead of worrying about what people say or think.

5. It helps you build the courage you need to stand your ground

A major part of being yourself is embracing your own uniqueness and quirks. It means being able to stand your ground and hold strong to what you believe in, even if that means going against the crowd. A lot of people take the easier route and conform because it’s easy to follow the crowd. Staying true to yourself and your brand is extremely difficult but over time, you start to build the courage and conviction to do so. It isn’t easy but it is worth it and eventually, you’ll be able to handle anything.