Just be like.....

How many times have you been told, "Just be like...."?   More like your brother. More like your sister. More like the cool kids.  Be like Mike.... Heck, someone may even say, "Be like Nike, and ..... 'just do it'!"

                    How many people have you told to be like..... someone else?

I've been on both sides of that table.  Growing up, it was, you should have your sisters eyes. Or you should be more athletically fast like your brother.   I felt pitted against them. And when I was told to be more like my peers, I felt like I was losing the battle of being me.

You see, it's hard to fit in when it seems that everyone is telling you to be like someone else.  To me, it boiled down to, who I was just wasn't good enough.  I went through most of my life not fitting in. And fighting harder to try to shove the square peg (me) into the round hole that everyone else seemed to play in.

I went through college trying to be more like everyone else because I had lost all identity of who I actually was. I was confused and lost. I changed how I talked, walked, and interacted.  I was dramatic, always sickly, always doing more to get attention.  All that work to be like someone else never worked and I never felt like I fit in.

I've even done this same type of 'be like' damage to my kids -- be like this sports figure, be like that smart girl... just emulate anyone - except who you were meant to be. And for that... I'm truly sorry.

I'm learning to accept myself in general and others for who they authentically are.  For the talents they have, and more so for the joy they bring to my life.  The world has become so fast-paced, judgemental, and unaccepting of different.  And while I can't change everyone's thought patterns, I can surely work on my own.

So instead of telling others to be like someone else, I ask only that you be authentic, brilliant and be you.  Because no one in this whole world can share what you have in your heart quite like you - and that is what makes you special!