"Be you."

This quote is short, sweet, and only two words but it’s some of the best advice you’re ever going to receive. “Be you.”

We get so caught up watching other people and everything they’re up to, admiring them, that sometimes we lose sight of ourselves. We try to mold and shape ourselves to be more like what we see because we think that’s what is expected of us. But what that does is it actually silences the most valuable thing about you which is your uniqueness. 

So if you see things a little differently, good! If you think about something a little differently, good! It is the “you” behind it all that offers and contributes something that no one else can! If we were all  supposed to be the same then we all would be the same. But that’s not how it is, and we should celebrate that diversity.

Of course there are guidelines to fit within. I personally don’t think it’s right to be so over-the-top “you” that it comes at the expense of someone else’s experience. So it’s important that while you dedicate yourself to being the best you that you can be, and honor who that person is, you need to respect and appreciate others as they attempt to be the best them that they can be. 

To wrap it up in a cheesy quote that you’ve probably seen a hundred times in a high school yearbook - “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” Be you.