Written in 2011, very minor edits in 2023

“My mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general; if you become a monk, you’ll end up as the pope.’ Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.”

– Pablo Picasso

Be yourself. A simple advice like this. Just be yourself. You are special. All of us are precious. If you think you are not special and your one life is not going to make any difference, watch the movie “It’s a wonderful life”. It’s a wonderful movie. Shows the value of life. Each of us can make a difference. That’s the first step of success. To believe that you are worth it. That you have it in you to make a difference. You are not an Einstein, you are not a Feynman, you are not Chekov, you are not Curie, but you are you. Don’t try to be others. Everybody is best when they are themselves. You can only be a second best to others but you can be a perfect you.

All of us have greatness in us. Each one of us has a specialty to be unlocked. For all of us, there is one thing that we can do better than anyone else on this earth. If you follow the herd, you will miss being great in your own domain. If you are great at being a singer or a player, you should never be a pilot. What would have happened if Messi had ruined his life being a doctor instead? Would I know his name?

Dare to be different. Dare to be yourself. Stop being a member of the crowd. The crowd is average. Great people are above average. So stop taking the easier path. Stop taking the well-known path. Be different. Be yourself. Be true to you.

A beautiful poem by Robert Frost is very inspiring:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

So take the road less traveled by. Be Picasso. Nay, not Picasso exactly. Be inspired by him, but be yourself. Be Sanjeev, be Thiwanka, be Laura, be Brian, be Stephanie -whatever your name is, but be yourself and let the world know that you exist. You have your own identity. You have got exactly the same resource as all others have– a brand new 24 hours to change things, a gift you receive every day. As Steve Jobs said, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

I have come across several people in walks of life who simply live their lives based either on copying others or on what people think about them. Both must be super exhausting and is a very sad way to live one’s life. Getting inspired by people and copying them is different. Similarly, living your life not based on your own priorities and philosophies but based on others’ priorities and expectations of you is a waste. Honestly, just be yourself and stick true to your principles because nothing else matters. In the chaos of everyday life, it is very easy to get swayed by public opinions or it is very tempting to copy a successful person. But refrain from it. It is far better to live your authentic life with all its flaws than to live the second-hand copied life of a supposedly better or successful person. You were not supposed to be someone else- that’s why your DNA doesn’t match with anyone else’s.