"Be Yourself"

I was apart of a conference hosted by WWF - Canada, and one of the keynote speakers said "be yourself wherever you are." This saying is very common and often given as advice, in fact I can not count how often I have heard it. But my issue is, it is thrown around as though it is simple and in reality, being yourself is not as simple as it sounds. It is most certainly one of those "easier said than done" scenarios.

As an active social media user, one of the main 101s of having a successful social media account is to be consistent with posts. For example, if your page is about food photography, then you will throw your followers off if you start posting landscape photos or portraits. When looking to make a brand or a name for yourself, you need to find your niche.

Finding a niche is not so easy, I am a multidimensional human being. I have varying interests that do not necessarily tie together easily, maybe I am just not creative enough yet. I am passionate about many things and I want to share these passions. But how am I to share them all if the rules of society dictate that I have find a niche and stick to it. I could have a niche in travel, nature photography, digital art, and writing but I have a hard time expressing it all in a consistent way.

They say be yourself but who am I? Am I simply too lost? Maybe I have not found a way to properly express myself...

I know that no matter what I do or who I am I will be judged. And generally, I don't care much for society's judgement however, as the saying goes "we are our own worst critic" so most of the times I end up judging myself and giving myself little to no credit. I recognize my flaws far more frequently than my successes. Perhaps this habit is a major obstacle in me finding myself and learning about who I really am.

More often than not, I feel as though I am the only person in the world; especially during this pandemic since most of the times I am isolated from the world.