I’ve been thinking about what I had written in regards to last week’s post about the hidden community that resides among many university students in terms of following your dreams. I realized that I hadn’t considered as much of how individuals would find their way towards their dreams, but mainly that the problem was present. This post is more of a follow up on the previous post, in order to add clarity, but also to ask more questions.
Much of my consideration regarding the definition of the self has been sparked by Youtuber ZeFrank1’s video: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLLz7O9Lf6k) in which he identifies the problem with the phrase: “be yourself”. Often times, people don’t have the required resources they might need in order to be who they really want to be, unless they are intended to be something else. He illustrates that a large problem with trying to “be yourself” is due to the fact that many times you’re not told what you’re supposed to be, but rather what you’re not supposed to be. I can personally attest to this idea, my parents were never quite sure what I was capable of in terms of heading towards a stable career, however, they were sure that what I was good at, was something that would be too risky to pursue. People like Dianna David (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLxMbzWm5Es) share their story of having strayed from the traditional path of conformity of a stable path and chose to strip the narrow boundaries created by not only her parents, but societal expectations of recognized as successful.
Zefrank’s video concludes with responses he had received when he asked subscribers what they thought in regards to the phrase “be yourself”: and the response that he chose was truly inspiring towards pursuing your dreams and keeping them in track. They had written that a person will always be themselves, however, it is important to be the best to which they can be: (https://twitter.com/bowlercaptain/status/208592797668876288)
My question towards the void is: Are you letting yourself define your own self? Or are you letting others do it for you?