You Are a Unique Human

 

Now, you could desperately try to do as much as you can and leave as much on the table as possible, but life is short, too short. Derek Parfit has pointed out that the brevity of life probably has nothing to do with its meaning. If your life was twice as long, would it have twice as much meaning? If we were all immortal, would the meaning of life suddenly be obvious? No.

As part of human nature, we very frequently allow ourselves to base our personal self-image on others' opinions of our character, including the clothes we wear, the volume of our voices, and how we portray our image. But we are more than just the characteristics that others see of us, aren't we?

Never allow your worth to become dependent on the thoughts of others; they don't know you like you know yourself. They don’t know your favourite color, childhood nickname or even your middle name.

Don't let someone else's opinion of you change how you perceive yourself. Look back on your life and all the small things that make you unique and lovable. You are a human, and you are your own individual. You are not worth any less because one person who doesn't know you doesn't like how you wear your hair. You are not worth any less because one person doesn't have the same hope for your future as you do.

To others, you are who you present yourself as.

Think about the people you know—really know. The people whose favourite song you could recite and whose lines on the palms of their hands you’ve memorized. Consider whether you could ever tell them their dreams aren't real or think negatively about their potential. Could your opinion of this person ever be changed by the dirt on their shoes? The more others know us, the more human we become in their eyes.
We may all be fish in the same pond, but your tail has colors that no one else can see until they know your heart. Now, consider letting another fish tell you that your tail is gray if they've never taken the time to understand you outside of the water.

 

Let me leave you with one last thing. My mom could have been a great singer, but she didn’t believe she could, so she got a safe job as an accountant. Years later she got let go of that safe job, and we had to do anything we could to survive. I learned many lessons from my mother, one of them being you can fail at what you hate, so you might as well try doing something you love.