by Ugo Ogwu

Here is the down side; until we accept ourselves for who we truely are, only then can we see the potentials in us, and develop our latent abilities. That rigid mind-set of going with the” norm” makes us suffer unexplored potentials.

By how much should we let people or “society” define the way we should live our lives? Who or what should we allow set the standard by which we measure our self worth? Some of us are not living “our lives” because we are too scared of being free, unwittingly caged by the dictates of the “world” we live in; by the opinion of friends, family or the influence of strangers. We never truly  give ourselves the privilege of being “us”, always looking out for ideas on how we think we should live, not accepting ourselves for who we truly are because  we think we might not measure up to the standard of the “world”  we feign what we are not.

This way of living can be attributed to our ostentatious life style, the lies we tell of achievement we never made, the attitude we put  in order to get noticed, we go overboard to get that “expensive item” not because we need it or even like it, but because it seems to place us in a certain group, gives us a certain class or a certain reputation. We think people would like to see. We live under the illusion that  a lot is expected of us even though in reality no one is paying any attention to what we are doing  we walk with a false sense of self-esteem and inflated self-worth but, who we are on the inside is being suppressed by who society has made us to become.

Here is the down side; until we accept ourselves for who we truely are, only then can we see the potentials in us, and develop our latent abilities. That rigid mind-set of going with the” norm” makes us suffer unexplored potentials. It is therefore essential that we cultivate the 3 cardinal principles of living; first understand yourself, secondly accept yourself, and thirdly be yourself. Accepting ourselves involves acknowledgement of our short comings as well as acceptance of our strength. Recognizing that we are all equal in that we cannot be more than humans, each of us with our individual foibles. Everything that seems to make us unequal we created, hence, the “social class” trying to blend into an imperfect world doesn’t make the world any more perfect.our differences is what  creates the balance its only by being different that we make a difference. We should embrace the eccentricity in us, that part of us that seems to deviate from the norm, ‘think outside the box’ where every regular and conventionally minded person belongs. Beneath the lies, the self-delusion, the gimmicks lay our true selves. Accept who you are and realize who you could become.

As British philosopher John Stuart Mill observed that “The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor and moral courage which it contained, that so few dare to be eccentric, makes the chief danger of the time.”

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.