Hey you! Be you!

"That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong."---William J.H. Boetcker

This is my new quote! It is very true. We should never compromise our beliefs and what we stand for to make another person happy. We should never hide behind who we are out of fear of what others might think of us. When we don't let the person we are shine, we become miserable. Maybe some of us don't really know who we are because we let everyone else our whole lives tell us. Maybe we don't know what we want because other people have made decisions for us. Maybe we don't know what to do because other people have told us what to do.

What about those of us who DO know who we are, what we want, and where we're going? Will we still be intimidated by the world and back down? You should surround yourself with people you bring out the best in you. Not the worst. Yes there are people along the way that aren't going to like everything you do, or even like everything about you, but that doesn't mean you should stop being who you are.

I was in a relationship a few years back. I would say it was pretty serious. But from the fact that I was really young and believed anything a guy said, at that point I didn't really know how to be agressive. As the relationship increased I decreased. Who I was quickly faded into who he was. We had nothing in common in every area imaginable. Our interests, our taste in music, the foods we enjoyed, the places we liked, the friends we had were all completely different. You might think, then why were you with him? I'd like to know the answer to that myself! Anyway, my point is I sacrificed everything I liked and everything I was for him. Until I was transformed into his ways. I was completely miserable but overlooked it. I tried to convince myself I was happy. But who I was on the inside was screaming to be let out of this tiny box it was shoved into. When we finally broke up and I could be myself again without feeling guilty, I could finally breathe!

That is one example, but I really feel like a lot of us deal with that same feeling in many different circumstances. There is nothing wrong with the way you are. I might have to say it again. There is, nothing, wrong, with the way you are! Don't be afraid to be yourself!!!! If you are in a relationship where you feel like you are in a box, then it's not right. If you are around people that don't encourage your talents or participate in your interests, then get around new people. If you have to stoop so low that you are ashamed of what you like and what you believe and what you do, then re-examine why you subject yourself to that!

Read this again and have a great weekend!