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Let’s be real here: You really have no choice but to be yourself. Unless you want to pay a high price for therapists, prescription drugs and other things that numb you into believing you can be somebody else. Here is you real: Be yourself proudly or accept this fact with meek reluctance.

Some apologize for being who they are. Others accept it with their heart and soul.

It’s a journey. It starts when you are a little kid and might take decades until you accept your real self. We look at others and think “I should be more like him.” “I should be as outgoing as her.” All the self-help books in the world won’t help. You are still yourself. No matter how much you read and learn. Your job is to enjoy the strengths and live with the flaws. Turn the flaws into strengths. And be your unique self.

This wish to be somebody else and apologize for your real being is prevalent in marketing. How many years has Volvo tried to get out of the “Safety” ghetto? How many campaigns were developed to make Microsoft look cool? And the needle never moved.

If you’re safe and reliable, embrace these attributes. We all want excitement. But we also want boring reliability.

When you’re not yourself, you have problems connecting. Because you want to find people that are really not your crowd. Once you accept yourself proudly, you will find the right people. The people who like you for who you are. Who cherish your flaws.

It’s a journey filled with peaks and valleys. But, it’s worth the ride.