Jenny's first message is - Just be Yourself
The scientific statistics of you being born on the date you were, to the parents you had and with your unique DNA is...
1 in 400 Trillion!
So for that reason alone, you have the right to be on Earth and part of humanity.
To 'just be yourself' can seem impossible in a world that wants everyone to be the same. Here are some tips to help you:
1) Lose the negative labels
From the moment we are born we're given labels; usually 'girl' or 'boy' is the first. Then depending on our physical appearance, personality, behaviour, disabilities or medical conditions, we accumulate more. Some people who are deemed different or unequal, receive others. Labels can be positive or negative, and usually we have a mixture of both. If we're born significantly different (or more unique) society likes to throw barbed negative ones at us in its quest to make us appear, and feel, inferior. Some examples of labels are pretty, funny, smart, naughty, lazy, stupid, ugly, fat.
As time goes on, these labels, particularly the negative ones, take root in our minds. If we believe the negative labels are true, they can destroy our self-worth and self-confidence.
To be who you are meant to be, you must identify your negative labels and purposefully destroy them, replacing them with positive and truthful ones.
2) Do not compare yourself to others.
Something we are very good at doing, particularly on social media, is comparing ourselves to others. If we rate our worth against others who seemingly are prettier, have better figures, go on holidays, have nicer homes, hotter cars, more talented children, the best brands of stuff, and every other way we compare... we will never be good enough. There will always be someone we know who can do something better than us, has a better paid job, has more money, and a seemingly better life. And, If we spend our life comparing and thinking the grass is greener over in their world, we’ll never be happy or content, and we’ll never be the person we're meant to be. We need to realise that people who are sharing all the great things about their life, are not showing the other side. For example, they could be massively in financial debt, they may be incredibly lonely, they may be addicted to drugs or alcohol; things that are not affecting us.
To be yourself, you need to be either content with where you are in life, or be proactive about changing your situation.
3) Find your talents and passions, and foster them
Everyone was put on this earth for a reason. It is the person who finds this reason who will be happiest. Now the reason will be related to our talents and passions because why else would we have them? Our passions are the things that help us get up in the morning (that aren't related to paying the bills), the pursuits in life that we really enjoy. Now these interests must be developed, and refined so we can use them effectively. We should always be learning and striving to be better. If we asked a class of children what they really like doing, we would get a variety of answers which is a good thing. It is our uniqueness which makes us be ourselves.
Use and develop your passions and talents; those things you like. They are what makes you, you.
4) Stay true to yourself
Peer pressure for teenagers is a curse for teenagers as it aims to kill individuality. As adults there can also be pressure from work colleagues, or from friends, to do things that we are not comfortable with doing. It is not always easy to say 'no thanks' to others when we are invited out or asked to partake in activities that are against our values. But if our gut feeling tells us it is not right then we need to be brave and strong enough to say no.
Staying true means being truthful and honest and faithful to what matters to you.
5) Face your fears
Fear can stop us from being ourselves. Apart from the actual source of the fear, general fear can affect us - we can fear making a fool of ourselves, of being bullied, or of failing. But if we never face our fears, we will never grow and experience new things. We may even never find our destiny - it may be behind the door of our fear. The best way to face our fear is to expose ourselves to the fear multiple times so it becomes easier, practice whatever it is and then reward ourselves for the achievement.
Conquering the fears stopping you from being yourself, will enable you to grow and experience a much richer life. It may even lead you to your destiny!
Gandhi said 'My life is my message'... what message is your life giving?
