Create Yourself (or: late-night ramblings about individuality)

"Think outside the box" is a cliche, at this point. Interesting, isn't it? That when we want to tell somebody to be creative, we all go to the same phrase, repeated endlessly in english classes and board meetings. It's almost parodic by nature, a way of saying, "Be creative, so I don't have to," or, "Be creative, because I can't." But then, even worse, there are the people who go overboard with it. I remember being one in 9th grade. I would say I was ~*~random~*~, and then I'd ask you what I was thinking about. The answer was always "tacos," which, given that it was always the answer, was decidedly not random... but at least I was thinking outside the bun.

I seriously considered ending this post right there. It's simple, and I think it captures what I want to say pretty well. But nahh, we all know I like talking. Here we go:

It's not a new concept. Everybody wants to be unique and everybody thinks they're special. I'm not talking about the whole "ohh, whiny little special snowflake," type special, but just, you know, everybody wants to be able to say, "I'm not like most [x]." ...which makes them exactly like most [x], whatever [x] may be. Most guys, most singers, most New Yorkers, most communications majors... you get the drift. But in order to differentiate themselves, a lot of people seem to... fake creativity.

They fake it like I did in 9th grade. I knew I was a weird kid (I'd have to have been an idiot not to), so I decided to "embrace it." I was going to be "unique." But instead of creating my own personality, I sort of latched on to this whole "xD" subculture, where "RAWR" meant "I love you" in dinosaur, purple was the best color ever, and of course, I was always thinking about tacos. Sound familiar? Of course it does. I was a regurgitation of everything MLIA.com had to offer. I wasn't unique, I was just different from the preps. Sure, I wasn't like "most guys," but I was exactly like most emo kids. Traded one cliche for another.

That's what I see happening with a lot of people. They're sick of being "normal," but instead of being themselves they just adopt a different pre-packaged personality, complete with social-media tendencies and standard lines that you could practically read off of a script. Instead of thinking outside the box, they've just moved their thinking to another box. Maybe they're not like most [x], but now they're like most [y]. And soon enough, it'll be the same thing all over again, because all of a sudden most [x] are deciding to be like [y], and nobody wants to be like most [x], so the trend-setters move on to be [z].

Sorry, by the way, for the conversational algebra. I know a lot of people hate that.

Probably freshman year of college, I was trying to figure out what drew me to my best friends. Why I liked them so much, you know? And the answer I landed on was that they were all their own people. They were characters, if you will. Personalities all their own, that couldn't fit into any of those pre-packaged aesthetics. A Kanye line -- "there's a thousand yous, there's only one of me" -- seemed a perfect fit (from their perspective). I think that was when I realized what it really meant to be unique.

It's not adopting some subculture.

It's not quoting other people's jokes and pretending you're funny.

It's not romanticizing your "struggle."

It's not trying to impress the people around you.

It's not something you're going to find by thinking outside of the box.

It's simple. So simple that it's almost laughable that it evades so many people.

Stop trying to impress people with your life. When you do that, live to impress, you're living on other people's terms, not yours. Do what you like and pursue what you want. Create yourself out of your own desires and interests. Forge your own personality.

I guess most people would have left it at, "be yourself," but hey, I'm not like most people.