“To be nobody but myself – in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make me somebody else – means to fight the hardest battle any human can fight, and never stop fighting.”
– e.e. cummings
There’s a feeling that I really don’t like and it’s rather hard to explain. The best I can do is to say that it’s the feeling of not being myself. It happens when I tell a fib, when I keep quiet about something I disagree with, when I do something that just doesn’t seem right, and when I find myself in circumstances that make me feel smothered somehow. And it happens when I allow others to influence me despite my inner voice saying, “Uh, no.” There are people in this world who speak loudly against what I firmly believe to be my truth. There are people who have priorities that they assume should be mine since we share a neighborhood, a nation, a popular culture. And there are even some people who have the best of intentions for me when it comes to advice and “that would be perfect for you” sentiment. But, the truth is, only I know that feeling of my Self clicking into place. It’s a rather incredible thing when it happens and I hope to do a lot more of it.
How does the cummings quote resonate with you?
