Sometimes it seems like every post about life-hacks, self-fulfillment, and finding your passion talks about being yourself, right? That if you are yourself–whatever that actually means–you’ll find yourself falling into luck and success and whatever else you want in life. But, in actuality, being yourself can be hard, lonely, and unproductive sometimes. However, as Oscar Wilde reminds us, there’s not much else we can be.

So I promise this blog post is not all negative and down in the gutters. I love this quote because it reminds me that no matter what, I can only be me. Even if I tried as hard as I could to model myself after someone else or try to copy what they do, in the end I’ll still be me. So why not be a unique me? A me that I’ll want to have a cup of tea with when I’m seventy?

It is hard to be yourself, especially if some of your goals and ideas and aspirations don’t mesh with your closest family members or friends. It can be difficult to keep creating, whether that’s a poem, a novel, a song, a recipe, a new project, without support (or sometimes even in the face of ridicule). But, at the end of it all, what other people think really doesn’t matter in terms of what we create. (I mean, I’m not advocating being mean or spiteful or anything, so don’t take it that way, okay? Okay. Thanks.)

What we create through whatever we do is about expressing who we are, what we believe, and what we want to do in life. I believe it gets both easier in some respects and harder in others as we get older. But I hope it gets easier for you and you like who you are and who you are becoming.

So be bold, be you, and be willing to share your art with the world. And, if you are ever in the gutters, make sure you are looking at the stars (thanks, Oscar Wilde, for being so quotable). 😉