Escaping the Approval Trap: The High Cost of Losing Our Unique Selves

The chance of any one individual being born is about 1 in 400 trillion.

We’re born unique, but how many die unique?

How many of us embrace our uniqueness and bring it into the world?

How many live as authentically as we possibly can?

I have no way of knowing, but I know it’s not many.

Because our society shuns uniqueness without some form of measurable success attached to it.

It’s okay for Lady Gaga to be unique because she’s wickedly and deservedly successful — and even in the face of that success, there are plenty who crap on her.

They crap on her because she’s doing what they themselves have longed to do.

They were that “weird” little kid until they learned it wasn’t safe to be that version of themselves.

The moment we believe who we are is “wrong” and, as a result, not safe is the moment our lives change.

A journey begins, but it’s not our journey.

It’s the opinions, shoulds, expectations, and “supposed tos” of anyone but ourselves as we desperately pursue the path of perceived safety.