"be your best self"

You are always you.

You are yourself when you are being compassionate and kind. You are also yourself when you are cruel, harsh, insecure. You’re actually still yourself even when you’re awkward, fake and forced- that’s who you were at that point in time in that scenario.

If you weren’t you, then who were you?

We say “I’m sorry, I wasn’t myself, I don’t know what I was thinking.” But that’s really a convenient lie we tell ourselves and each other.

We know precisely what we were thinking, we’re just not very comfortable sharing that with one another. Who will openly admit to experiencing socially unacceptable feelings of selfishness, lust, anger, fear?

That’s why we’re all so lonely all the time- because we judge and punish each other and ourselves for not matching up to these ridiculous standards. Perhaps, in a sense, we’re less hypocritical than we realize- people who are mean and hateful towards others are rarely happy and contented with themselves either. If I think you’re a lesser human being because you’re “stupid”, then the pressure is on me to maintain some sort of superiority at all times. It becomes a huge source of anxiety (which, ironically, prevents me from taking the real risks I need to take to create any sort of real value in the world.)

Better advice: “Be your best self.” (And be kind to those who aren’

From:

http://www.visakanv.com/blog/2013/03/when-is-be-yourself-not-good-advice/#sthash.6Pv36eMT.dpuf