Conformity is the shortest route to a boring life.
~ Brenda Johima ~
Conformity, “behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards” might help you be more popular (than I) and in the past it might have been the best way to climb up to the top of the ladder in business.
However, conformity, and the constant striving to fit in, while letting go of yourself, who you really are, is plain destructive to the soul, to your very being, life force, and energy.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m all for having a “sense of belonging.” A most painful thing for some, can be to not have a sense of belonging anywhere, and that is not what I am speaking of here. We all need to feel a sense of belonging, somewhere.
I am speaking of those who give up themselves, who they really are, those who daily, give up their deepest urges and truest passions, dreams and desires, to conform, to “do what is right” (or what they think is right) to speak the words (they think) that others want to hear … and to follow the herd in order to get ahead. Is that you? Here are some messages that you might be carrying around:
- If you don’t conform, then you just might not be all that popular.
- If you don’t conform, you might not be all that well liked.
Don’t be sheep.
Instead, here’s another message you might want to think about:
- Conform and you just might not be happy.
As an artist, writer, photographer, and anyone in the creative and expressive arts, you have a chance, a choice, to not be sheep, to go against the grain, to really truly be who you are, to be the odd one who stands out, who sticks out like a sore thumb because you are so different, so weird, so out of step with what everyone else is doing … Do it, be you, because we are all starving for authentic people in the world who can, and do, just that.
Don’t be sheep. Be Weird.
~ Brenda Johima ~
(* P.S. And to me nowadays, being called “weird” is a compliment, Thank You Very Much)
(*P.S.P.S. Please remember, for those of you who judge (and for those with PhD’s and Masters Degrees who do contact me 🙂 … I am not giving business advice here in this post. Here, I’m an artist, simply sharing my writings, thoughts, opinions, from one point in time, today, right now … and in a flash, that might even change, as the creative process does, when one is truly immersed in it. Thoughts and feelings are like a subway, or like a bus (depending on where you live). There will be another one coming along in a minute or few. 🙂
