The Uniqueness That Is You

Why resisting conformity is a good thing

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” Dr. Seuss

The pressure to conform is all around us. Our friends, families, employers, schools, religions, governments, and organizations all take part in this pressure. Sometimes their participation isn’t conscious or intentional, but it’s pressure nonetheless. Succumbing to that pressure is a guaranteed pathway to unhappiness. Remember this, always.

You are unique! There is no one on earth exactly like you.

Our individual uniqueness shouldn’t be surprising. As a close friend of mine used to point out, all one has to do is look to nature to understand diversity and uniqueness. Look at snowflakes. Look at flowers. Look at trees. Look at mountains. Look at people’s faces. They’re all 100% unique.

If these externals are unique, why would we think that our insides, our minds and hearts and needs, are the same. They’re not. They possess the same uniqueness as everything else in the world.

There’s no such thing as an average person. An average person does not exist. Each of us is unique and that uniqueness should be celebrated and fostered. When average human characteristics are discussed, what’s being discussed are statistical measures that can’t…