Be yourself

I wanted to post yesterday's daily meditation from Answers in the Heart because it resonated with me so much!

The principal mark of genius is not perfection but originality, the opening of new frontiers. — Arthur Koestler

Many of us have been brought up to believe that we should strive for perfection, and often this means imitating someone whose life seems exemplary to us. We take enormously high standards from outside and we soon begin applying them to ourselves. When we fall short, we berate ourselves. We become convinced that because we can’t be saints, we must have fallen from grace; imperfect, we come to despise ourselves. Surely, no one is as worthless as we are! We’ve failed again, acted out. Who could possibly love us if they knew who we really were? But why do we insist on being judged by impossible standards? Why do we want to be like someone else? Why should we not search for what makes us original, precious, and worthy of care and love? Then we don’t have to go around with our eyes on the ground; we can look the world in the face because we know who we are. Who? Ourselves.

I don’t want to be perfect. I want to be human. I want to be myself.