To thine ownself be true

"This above all: to thine ownself be true. And this must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."-- Shakespeare-Hamlet

In my conversations with my friends during the past week, one thing is fundamentally correct-my friends are the realest group of people I've ever met in my life. Being "real" or remaining true to self is not always the most popular option, however, when we become comfortable with our "true"-selves we cannot be marred by the false expectations of others. Being true to self allows your real friends to stab you in the front (505) and you receive their constructive criticism with love. I'll share some examples:

C: We told this girl everyday that we hated her chunky shoes. This female had a pair of platformed massive monster looking shoes to go with every outfit and we told her how awful her shoes were all the time. Did she stop wearing them? Nope. In fact, she wore those awful monster shoes until she was ready to transition to stilettos and slimmer soles. I appreciate this girl today because she didn't walk around trying to be more than she was. She was herself...sometimes you liked it...sometimes you didn't but she was consistently C-AMW.


L and T: I definitely find the Shakespearean quote true for these chicks. What other strong sense of personal awareness drives them to share their personal realizations with other people even if it places them in the seat of vulnerability? (okay, so I do know one other person like this:)) I used to hate this quality about them but now I love it. If you are comfortable with your emotions and your faults no one else can ostracize you about you...Why?, because you are truly your own worst critic. No one can outdo you in knowing who YOU are.

MB: Original House of Pancakes...June 2005. My friend can't sing worth a damn-okay, well maybe he's not tone deaf but singing isn't his forte. He was so comfortable with himself that he began to sing some random song he was feeling to me aloud at the table. I was grinning ear to ear because it felt good to see someone so free. Unbound by social standard or protocol.

JC: Now this one is throwback. In elementary school, I had a best-friend who wore very greasy lipgloss. This lipgloss looked like the end of a fried chicken meal from Church's. Everyone at our elementary school talked shit about her lipgloss...but she seemed to love it. Everytime the lipgloss appeared to...lackluster, if you will...she applied more and more and more and more. I reflect on this experience with fondness now because my friend was completely okay with others speaking against her lipgloss because SHE liked it. She was happy and that is what really matters in life.


ALL THAT TO SAY: How often do you make choices for others and not for yourself? What makes you happy?


DOC