Nature has given a unique identity to all of us; each of us is different than other. When we try to copy someone else we are going against nature. Nature never copies; every living thing produced by nature is unique. We all are unique in ourselves and have our character and qualities, but we don’t even try to look for them but try to follow someone else, and in turn, we kill our original self. In a situation to become someone else most of the time, we lose our identity permanently. Our individuality is expressed more through a various combination of choices than particular possessions.

By

Irene and Nimra Shehzadi

Our society, family or even parents always want us to follow some ‘real’ examples; they call them ideals. There are role models in every culture. Their achievements are great and nothing wrong with getting inspiration from their lives to shape up our life. Our elders always try to show us predictable path, let’s take an example here, a common cause of failure is a mistaken ambition for the boy on the part of his parents. Such boy is showing less interest in his study because he is following a direction identified by his parents, that runs counter to all of his interests and abilities. As a result, he is unable to perform well and destroying their future. This all due to the decision of his parents that is imposed by him regardless of his interest because his parents compare him with other lucky boys in this field and they do not understand that it is not necessary that their boy also has those abilities. Only they try to imitate other and do not care that their boy is suffering from a stressful situation.

“Imitation is not inspiration, and inspiration only can give birth to a work of art. The least of man’s original emanation is better than the best of borrowed thought.”

― Albert Pinkham Ryder

It’s not easy to understand ourselves, we have to take a lot of struggles to realize who we are and very few people try to do that. Looking at some else’s life, it can help us to understand our life. Everyone is unique in this world; it’s not a very sensible thing to constantly compare our-self with other people. We consciously or unconsciously try to imitate those whose personalities inspire us. In this struggle, we do not focus on exploring ourselves and ruining our innate hidden abilities.

Ways to stop imitate others

When we choose to emulate someone else instead of being who we are, we are telling God that he was wrong in creating us the way he has. God loved you and made you different than everyone else. No one will ever be you. Embrace who you are.

Every person has a lot of strengths and weaknesses. The primary goal is to identify them. When you try to be someone else, you are ignoring the forces that lie within yourself. The person you are trying to imitate is not better than you, but they are different, and that is okay.

You can imitate, but at some point, you have to start identifying who you are as a painter — the ‘who am I’ of the inward journey that every artist must take. (Camille Przewodek)

Everyone has a different experience than others. Imitating other people is fruitless because you will never fully follow them because their experiences are unique to them. You could never be me, and I could never be you. We are different in so many ways, and that fact is a beautiful thing.

We should try to take inspiration from people around us, from all important people who are living on this planet but resist the temptation of imitating them. There is the difference between imitating someone and getting inspired by someone, and we should understand it.

When inspiration dies, imitation thrives. (Darby Bannard)

Rather than trying to copy somebody we should try to discover ourselves, understand out true nature and try to be ourselves. Let’s discover real us. Let’s give us a chance to express our true self; our true individuality is not the one which society or people want us to be. Let’s just be our-self.

My suggestion:

My advice is to create your standards, be proud of yourself and accomplishments. Be happy and secure in your skin. The “Self” is the first love. Other love falls under that. YOU DON’T NEED TO COMPETE! What you need is to be happy. You are a person, appreciate that and stop needing to be stroked into believing in yourself.

Don”t Imitate Others, Dare To Be Yourself!

Instead of copying an existing model, He created a whole new YOU! Why? Because He needs you to be just the way you are! Why bother and try to be somebody else?There’s no need for you to imitate anybody else; they already exist. Do you want to be just like your colleague? If the Creator wanted two identical colleagues, then He would have created a copy of the first. If the Creator needed another person just like your neighbor, then He would have immediately created two of them. He never cloned somebody, so why would you? Every snowflake is different. Creation is not duplication.

Don’t imitate others. Observe them, learn from them, but don’t try to be like them. Learn their skills but then implement them in your own life and move forward on your own road. Because you are walking your own road, you cannot follow the footsteps of somebody else, nor can someone else walk your road for you. They have their road, you have yours.

Why did the Creator give all of us different fingerprints, different ears, different noses? Wouldn’t it have been much easier for Him to make all of us out of a single mold? One model; no differences, no comparisons. He could have done it, but He didn’t. Why not? Apparently He needs us to be individual. He needs us to be different. Certainly this fact adds to the pleasure of the game. If all the characters in the play were alike, then it wouldn’t be much fun to watch. He surely likes us all to be different. And He surely needs us all to be different!

Given the undisputed fact that we are all different, why would you try to be like somebody else? Why change your looks or your body with plastic surgery? Why not be happy with the way you are? I’m not just talking about appearance, but also about talents. Character. Everybody is unique. While longing for talents you don’t have, you are neglecting those talents that you do have. This is rather counter-productive, no? You have been gifted with a unique set of talents, so find out what they are and develop them.

There is no coincidence. Everything in the universe exists for a reason. You are not talented by accident! Neither is it haphazard that you don’t have some talents you would like to have.

If you don’t have a nightingale voice, you were not meant to sing. You can do something else with your life according to the talents you do have, and leave the singing to someone who is naturally equipped for that. If you have no acting talents, you should not act. If you weigh too much, you’d better start dreaming about something else than being a fashion model.

Another undisputed fact is that everybody is gifted with his or her own unique talents. Make no mistake! Talents are not only about activities like singing, acting, dancing, painting, writing or excellence in sports. Your unique talent could be your spontaneity, your enthusiasm, your connection with animals, caring for the disabled, your generosity, being a good teacher or public speaker, being a loving community member, or being a good problem solver. It could be your capacity to love, your natural joy, your brilliance, intelligence, easily assimilating new languages, radiating beauty, having a funny way of expressing yourself, making others laugh, kindness, tenderness, and many more. The list of possible talents is very, very long indeed…

What matters in the end is for you to be yourself, right? To be yourself is to find out what your unique talents are. Unique, you say? Others are spontaneous too! Plenty of people are generous or friendly. True, but your uniqueness lays in the combination of your key talents. Find out what your prominent talents are and how you can put them together. In the synergy and alignment of your key talents lies the beauty of your uniqueness.

It would be a big waste of time trying to be someone else. You are at your best being yourself! The world needs you as you are, exactly as you are! Dare to be yourself. The more you dare to be yourself, the more freedom you will feel. The more freedom you feel, the more you will dare. Daring and freedom support each other to re-create your unique self in an ever expanding celebration of Life. Your life.