Just be yourself.

Does anyone else see this as a hard concept to grasp sometimes? We’ve all heard it. Most of us have probably even said it. It’s supposed to be that “cure-all” advice. “I’m scared to meet new people” (be yourself) “Nobody likes me” (be yourself) “I don’t know what to do” (be yourself) “I’m really nervous about this job interview” (be yourself) okay, so maybe those were lame examples, but it’s late, and I am tired.

Be Yourself. That is just so hard sometimes. How much of me is really me? When I am not “being myself” then who am I being? What if I don’t like certain things about myself? Should I still be like that? Is improvement considered not being yourself? What makes people think I am not being myself? What if their view of me “being myself” is not me at all? What if when they tell me to start acting like “myself” I already am “being myself”, then how should I be? Another question- what if who I used to be is not who I am now…which is the “real” me? Can there be multiple ways to be myself or only one?

Confusion. You’d think that something that sounds so simple wouldn’t be this difficult to understand. Perhaps I am overthinking it, but you would too if you were constantly told to “just be yourself.”