YOUER THAN YOU

“Today You are You, that is Truer than True. There is no one alive who is Youer than You” - Dr. Seuss.

I used to love Dr. Seuss when I was a kid. I dressed up as the cat in the hat when I was in first grade. I’m 23 now and I don’t remember a whole lot from being a kid, but I remember that. I probably loved reading Dr. Seuss because of quotes like this one, even though I didn’t realize it until I came across it again the other day. I think it’s kinda funny that I’m writing this with Halloween coming up in a couple days when the whole day is about dressing up as someone other than yourself. I’ve never really been one to dress up for Halloween, but we, myself included, "dress up” as other people all the time. Real quick, when I say “we”, I’m talking about people as a whole which includes me. But anyway, back to what I was saying. We try to dress up as other people all the time. I think the biggest driving force behind this is social media and entertainment. It’s constantly in our face because we’re constantly on our phones. The stream of content and media is endless. Think about your favorite tik tok person, athlete, music artist, actor, Instagram personality, or whoever you are drawn to and pay attention to. As awesome as they may seem and as cool as they appear, they already exist. Now I'm not saying it’s a bad thing to try and play basketball like LeBron James (who in my opinion goated with winning the finals this year), or try to sing like Beyoncé. Those are two pretty good examples to look up to, but they’re on that level for a reason. There’s only one person in the world who can do the things LeBron does on the basketball court and only one person who can sing like Beyoncé. You probably guessed who they are, but they are LeBron James and Beyoncé (duh). Those people are already taken. They are the best at what they do and have risen to the level of success they are at because they are really good at their job. Now there’s nothing to say you can’t be on the same level of success as them. Everyone thought MJ was the best until the kid from Akron came along. You want your name to be mentioned in the same sentence as LeBron in the conversation of all-time basketball greats? Then use your gift as a basketball player and be the best that YOU know how to be and maybe one day you’ll find yourself in that conversation. Same thing with Beyoncé. Those may seem like two pretty extreme examples, but I think it’s more about the concept, not the particular person. It can apply to anyone. The important thing to note is that we all have something special that we bring to the table. That special thing is ourselves. It’s you. It’s me. Maybe in your friend group you’re the one that everyone else comes to for advice. In their eyes, you may be the most level-headed person they know and look to you when they need help. There may not be a single soul on Earth that they trust with going to other than you, and to me that’s just as special as LeBron being the best basketball player to ever live (we can argue about this if you feel some type of way). We see all these famous people and others on social media and in entertainment and think to ourselves “I wish I was like them”. But where’s the use in that if you were exactly like them? God made one of us for a reason and we all contribute to life in our own special way. Maybe you haven’t discovered what that special thing is yet, but you will. When you do, I think you’ll be all the better for it.

The value we all add to life only comes from being ourselves. There’s no use in there being two of the exact same people. Identical twins may look the same and share some of the same tendencies, but at the end of the day they’re still individual of each other. Just like you and I are individual of the almost 8 billion other people on the planet. It’s kinda crazy when you think about it. There is not a SINGLE person in this world like you and I think that’s something you should be proud of. There are tons of people out there that are writing their thoughts and sharing them with others in a blog just like this. #1 good for them for doing what they enjoy. But #2 is that I know I’m not the same as them, and they’re not the same as me. We don’t write the same. We don’t think the same. We haven’t experienced the same things. And that’s okay. I’d much rather it be that way. I could have easily said “Oh there’s already someone out there writing a blog so I guess I can’t do it”. That kind of thought process can be very dangerous. Yes there are people out there who are writing blogs and have probably been doing it longer and more often than I do, but we’re not the same. It’s better to have a lot of people writing blogs with their own thoughts rather than them all thinking and writing the same exact thing. That’s the beauty in you. I really admire people who take it upon themselves to be the best version of themselves that they can be. One person in particular comes to mind that I know. They are unapologetic about how they live their life, work really hard to do what works for them, and stay in their own lane without getting distracted by what anyone else is doing. They take no shame in being who they are. I think that’s where I’m going to leave it at. But remember what Dr. Seuss said. “Today You are You, that is Truer than True. There is no one alive who is Youer than You”, and that’s all you really need to know.