Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are...

I think that clarity is finally coming to me. Slowly, I am rising from the haze of 27 years of being over-marketed and over-sold an image, an idea, a standard that I had to live up to. The image is unattainable. We can't be anybody else, we can only be us.

I saw a stat (admittedly I don't know how accurate it is, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's close) that 92% of Americans wish they could be somebody else.

Who do you want to be? Maybe it's a celebrity, or an athlete, or a noble character like Christ or King David. I heard a suggestion recently in a book that I am reading that Christ's purpose for being here (outside of Savior of the world and all) was not for us to BE like Him, but rather to FOLLOW Him. Is there a difference?

For me, the desire to be somebody else manifests in a desire to add 20 or 30 pounds of muscle, and to have hair, and to be really smart. I would love to be a great basketball player, and I sometimes daydream to believe that if I would have done this or focused on that, that I could have been a great athlete, but I didn't, and I am who I am.

Goals are not a bad thing. Self improvement is not a bad thing. But as a friend reminds me on a regular basis, "why are you wanting those things?" Is the goal to achieve a status that I perceive in someone else, or is the goal to better provide for my family or obtain something that I like. Could I set a goal to lift weights everyday and gain 30 lbs to fill out my 6'2" frame? Probably, but why, and at what cost?

My wife recently took a courageous stand and chose to leave her hair wavy, even though she thought I wouldn't like it. It's easier for her, and she likes how it looks, but does my opinion matter? Probably to a certain extent, and in other things that are more important in life, and our marriage, yes, but her hair doesn't. For her she has to reject the all-American sense that I won't love her or accept her if she doesn't conform. I'm proud of her for doing that. I'm proud of her for continuing to quell the lie that her appearance determines my love. What kind of love would that be if it was true? She always gets things quicker than I do.

I love this commercial. It kind of shows what we truly have become as Americans (albeit I don't really care about the product being sold, but you'll get the point).



Everybody is just becoming a clone. We all want to be perfect images of this perception that is being fed to us by the Hollywood machine.

I am choosing to not worry about the bulk muscle and the hair that I am lacking. I was created with a body to run, and I am getting more and more excited about the running that I can do. I am looking forward to running for causes and using my created being for good, and I am truly loving the idea of being authentic; being myself.

Kurt Cobain once said, "Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are." Quit wasting your life. I'm going to quit wasting mine.