GradHacking: Ranting – Be Yourself

Eric Riley April 30, 2018

Song of the Day

To be yourself 

Is all that you can do

Audioslave

Hello GradHackers and welcome back to another post about something important going on in my life. Lately I’ve been coming to a cross road of who I am and what I aspire to be one day. It’s hard to say it’s not racking my brain. When we come into this world life isn’t directly thrown at you. As a child you may have responsibilities, but never something you can’t handle. I’m getting to the point where those responsibilities are beginning to grow and flourish into something beautiful and yes I’m excited, but also yes I’m nervous. Growing up in Panama City, in my eyes a small town, was easy. There were fights and mistakes, love and love lost, but never any challenges I couldn’t handle.

All my life I wanted to be like this person and that, making millions because of rap or singing or creating something great. All along the person I should’ve been trying to be, is me. You see, with life and responsibilities comes hardship and growth. A wise friend once told me, “don’t ever let someone take you off your path, stay true to yourself, and keep on your blinders.” J.S. At the time that he told me this I was going through some hard times in my life and I didn’t think that I was being anything but myself. Looking back on that time now I know that I wasn’t where I should’ve been and I wasn’t being true to who I really was as a person. I’m writing this post today to help shed some light on my insecurities to hopefully touch one person out there reading this, because if I can move one person or effect them in any way, the posting was worth it.

Along this journey of growing up and finding my true self I found myself doing a lot of things I shouldn’t have been doing. Now I don’t know if my editor will let me delve into that so I won’t, but lets just say that I was experiencing some things I shouldn’t have when I was younger. As some of us have. During that time in my life I was lost, trying to fit in, hanging out with people who I thought cared about me and were my friends. Which they did, but not how they should’ve. They cared if I had money or gas in my car. Which now I know they weren’t true friends, but at the time they were cool to hang out with so what did I care right? All that time I spent with them is time I can never get back. Did I learn something from hanging out with them? Yes, what not to do and what fake friends are like. Now that I’m at a place where I love where I am and the people I surround myself with I can recognize what I was lacking. Friends that cared and more importantly I didn’t love myself. Self love is a key to complete happiness. “If you can’t love yourself how the hell are you going to love somebody else?” (RuPaul)

We underestimate what it means to love ourselves and being happy with the person that’s in the mirror, inside and out. It’s not an easy ordeal to go through, finding yourself and creating your own path. IT’S HARD. It at least was for me. I went around campus and asked a few students what being yourself and self love meant to them and here’s their different perspectives:

Amon – “Staying true to yourself is important because it keeps your goals in order and your attitude true. No one is going to out more effort into you than you.”

Ervin – “Being true to yourself will allow you to break down the walls that have been built around you. There aren’t many people who can truly be themselves no matter the environment. It’s important because You are who God made you to be. Understanding this can set you free. Forget what you heard and let go. Just be yourself and stay true to it.”

Perry – “Success is a long game in life. When you are yourself, you never have to worry about trends or competition because you are simply trying to be the best version of yourself as possible. The people that support you will also be organic and that translates to not only to long term financial success but sets the precedence for those that are inspired by your journey in life.”

Everyone in the world should love themselves. No money or materialistic thing can buy you the happiness you can achieve once you have found out who you truly are. This post was about people staying true to who they are and being yourself no matter what anybody says or thinks. The only perception of yourself that matters is yours. Peace, love, and positivity. I want everyone who reads this to go to your nearest mirror. Look at yourself. Realize what’s in front of you. How beautiful you are. You are amazing. You can do anything. Your are you and that is perfect in it’s own way. Stay true to yourself. Here’s some inspirational words brought to us by CJ -Chan!

About The Author