To be yourself in a world that’s trying to make you into someone else

In a world constantly trying to make you into someone: I love the simplicity of this quote. Each time I read this quote, I find a pause that makes me think. This pause is mostly about figuring out what this means to me. And the same about understanding what this quote means and how it makes us rethink where we are.

The key questions are: Who am I, what do I want and what’s the type of person that I’d like to be? You see so many beautiful complexities here. In this article, we’re trying to explore the different meanings this quote can take and make us think about.

To be yourself in a world trying to make you into someone else

I think we don’t talk about this enough – to be yourself is the greatest accomplishment. Sometimes it sounds like a bad excuse to be rude, rebellious and even hurt people. On the other hand, it is about figuring out what your thoughts are trying to tell you. It is difficult to listen to ourselves when there are so many things influencing us.

to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is a great accomplishment - Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes on being yourself, managing noise around you and creating your own path in life
to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is a great accomplishment – Ralph Waldo Emerson

This quote talks about the main themes such as:

  • What does it take to be yourself
  • Who’s stopping you and identifying your influencers
  • Building confidence to trust your thoughts and create your destiny

We’re constantly influenced by our peers, culture, education, advertising, etc. In all these noises, being yourself is indeed the greatest accomplishment! The idea is not to try to force ourselves to believe something, but just to listen with curiosity and understand its meaning.

In a world constantly trying to make you into someone Meaning

I’ve often asked this – why does the world try to make us into something else? The answers I’ve received are – it is easy, predictable and simple. But simple for whom? This is something we need to be extra cautious about. The world is trying to create a replica of what it believes we should be. You can see so much judgement and bias involved in this already.

People giving you unsolicited advice

I’m amazed at the ease with which people like to give us advice. It is a rather difficult job – to give advice, but it must all come from a place of care. The problem is that people tend to judge rather than care or be kind.

People getting offended that you don’t follow their advice

I find this funnier. Sometimes it feels that the advice is trying to make you into someone like them rather than letting you figure it out. Remember, the world is constantly trying to make you into something else. Maybe it is easy for the world to do so. But is that what works for you?

Defining your own meanings of success, failure

It is amazing to see the various definitions of success and failure. They all mean different things to different people. In the spirit of understanding yourself, you need to figure out what these things mean to you. Maybe you don’t have to fall under the same bracket as defined by the world around you.

Being exposed to the judgement of the world

The world has a clear set of rules, regulations and fixed definitions of who you have to be. The problem is that this list is never-ending. What is the point of trying to live up to the expectations of the world? That too when these expectations are constantly changing?

I’ll come back to the central meaning of this quote – in a world that’s constantly trying to make you into someone else, it is an achievement to be yourself. Keep coming back to its meaning, find your path and respect others in the same journey as yours.


Discover more from Inspire99

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Show 12 Comments

12 Comments

  1. indrani

    Very thoughtful and thought provoking post.

All we need is a spark to engage a fantastic conversation, please leave your thoughts to inspire our readers

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.