The poet Oscar Wilde once said, “Be yourself everyone else is taken” and it speaks volumes to the condition many of us find ourselves in our day to day lives. We shop, dress, cook, eat, and move to be like someone else, whether it's conscious or subconscious, we take the time to mimic the lives of our favorite people, from parents to celebrities.
I’m not condemning anyone for this but, in doing so you should be doing It for the right reasons and in a healthy way. Case in point we’ve all heard the term “Keeping up with the Jones” and this is the first place people mess up. I watched a friend of mine recently bought a pair of $140 Jordan Retro 7’s for his 11-year-old son. Now, most would say that’s not a problem, you should want your kids to have nicer things than you had growing up but here is my issue; First, that’s way too much money to spend on one pair of shoes for a kid to go to school in just to try to show off to his friends. This is just so he can seem cool because he has the shoes that say “my parents have money”. Second, he’s eleven… for those who don’t have kids or never been around them, I’ll say it plain, Kids don’t care that much to take care of shoes. While it’s a great gesture, those shoes are doomed. Finally, the only reason we do this foolishness is for the status symbolism involved with a purchase like that i.e. Mercedes Benz, Rolex, Hermes, and the list goes on.
I know, I talk in detail about being modern and distinguished but, that doesn’t mean be trendy or put yourself in a monetary crisis because you want to look a certain way to other people. The distinguishment between yourself and others is knowing how to be true to who you are and be an all-around solid person. What Oscar Wilde was saying in that quote, was to take the time to be the person everyone else wants to be. Not because of the brands on your clothes, or the jewels around your neck. We start from the inside, knowing who we are, what we like, and what makes us the person we have come to be. That is where you start to distinguish who you are and if you do that and find that you still like spending $140 on shoes, by all means, do so but, the key is that it won’t be for anyone but You because everyone else and what they are doing won’t matter.
As Always MnD
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