Be different....

I felt the need to blog today about how more and more sheepish we are becoming. Not in a shy retiring way, but in a "like sheep" way, whereby we accept what the majority is doing is the norm and therefore we should fit in alongside it and live our lives this way.

Is that what you really want to do?  Does the pressure of other people's existing stop you from being you?  Ask yourself this question and really evaluate the answer you give yourself.

I had a client a few weeks ago, she had booked herself a cosmetic surgery operation and was excited about the prospect, but she was also very concerned that her friends thought she was mad. She was about to pay thousands of pounds to correct something on her body she was unhappy with, but her friends had nearly all said to her "we all have that problem, you just have to live with it. It's called aging".  But she was adamant she wanted this surgery to make her feel good about herself but now had the additional worry of being talked about. I said to her, "I bet you will be happy to be talked about when you feel amazing with your body." She did agree but felt it had separated herself a bit from her group of friends.

Another example is of a guy who is bored of getting drunk in the pub. All his friends go to the pub every friday night and they spend hours drinking as much as they can before they crawl home, usually in a state of 'not going to be able to get up on Saturday morning'. He wants to join them in the pub, but doesn't want to drink, and as a result has decided he can't join them any more and has separated himself from his friends.

The problem with both of these situations, is that they are personal choices made by two individuals who haven't followed the herds, but their thoughts of their 'herds' of friends judging them has put them at unease.  The simple solution is, what you're doing guys is great, fantastic. We actually all want to see others being different, doing things differently, but we still want you as our friend.  Embrace your differences and celebrate them. You are still the same person, and your friends will still love you, whatever personal choices you make.

From another angle, your differences may encourage the more sheep-like of your friends to follow their own paths and live their own lives, rather than those presented to them!

Go out and be your amazing self.
xx