by Kristia Niña Daymiel | September 5, 2023
The best person to become is to be yourself. But who is this “self” anyway? Was it the one you were last week? The one from yesterday? Or perhaps, the one you brought to the party last night?
Getting a grasp of our true self is definitely not a game of whack-a-mole. Sometimes, we even question our authenticity and success in becoming “the one” we planned for ourselves to become. This doubt leads to the thought of finding oneself becoming critically romanticized, like how movie characters go on trips to potentially search for their souls.
You see, you don’t have to spend a three-day trip or something to find yourself and soul search. All you have to do is live day-by-day because it is in our unique nature as human beings to be complex and indefinite—to change phases simultaneously.
This means that even if you no longer walk the same path as you did on your big break, love the same things you used to, or even when you’re no longer as bubbly or put on the same style that everybody loves about you—your changes shouldn’t necessarily connote how you stay or diverge from your success.
Always remember: conventional is different from original. No one should define “you” as how they used to see you for the longest time.
How you fix your hair, choose your circle, and decide on a pastime doesn’t entirely have to be the same from one point to another. Similarly, just because you no longer fit the same puzzle as you did before doesn’t mean that you are becoming different from who you are. Because the “true self” is a never-ending mutation. You can be one thing today then another tomorrow and still call it your genuine self.
It’s more like we are the same person every day, but we just wear different shades that fit the weather. You don’t have to be just “one” to become authentic. Authenticity is wearing what you genuinely feel from one moment to another.
Change is an element of evolution, paving the way to our destinations and identities. It fosters growth. That’s why it is disheartening to hear voices telling you to be more like yourself when they notice even a crumb of change in you, when all you did was angle for better days ahead.
As change allows you to step forward, few still tend to perceive the thought of changing as departing from one’s true self or right path. In many senses, like a sea that can never be stagnant, no one is ever entitled to remain the same. Your “change” will never mean you are less of your purpose, because shifting is a part of who we naturally are as progressive, transformative beings. Indeed, there is growth amidst change.
