To Thine Own (AWESOME) Self Be True

TanTantheLadiesMan is back with some sage advice on the art of appreciating YOURSELF.—Sparkitors

I’ve never been the skinniest kid on the block, or the fastest, or the funniest, or the best looking, or the second best looking.  In fact, I’ve pretty much never been the best at anything—and I’m totally fine with that. Lots of people think that happiness comes from “being the best” (unless you’re my brother, and you’re just happy with remembering to shower every day), but that’s pretty much a big ol’ sack of lies. As a great philosopher once said (and no, it wasn’t me, no matter how smart the quote sounds), “Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances." What this means (for anyone who can’t critically think above a fifth grade level...yet again, my brother) is that it doesn’t matter how much good stuff you’ve got going for you, if you don’t have a happy attitude, you won’t have a happy life. Period. So no matter how many trampolines you have, or how many coupons for free Big Macs you possess, if your mood isn’t positive, those oh-so-wonderful gifts won’t bring you diddly-squat. If you need a change of perspective, here are a few simple tips to turn your frown upside down.

1.  Don’t compare yourself...like, ever. No matter how many things I say about my brother (who’s my twin, btdubs), he’s actually a pretty decent guy (cringe!). And since we're twins, we get compared. A lot. Sometimes I feel like we’re just oranges in a grocery store, and some rude customer has picked us up in his sweaty, greasy hands to see which one is better. But, unlike oranges, WE HAVE FEELINGS! So when this metaphorical customer makes a comment like, “Oh, this one is awesome, but this one is just average,” I kinda sorta feel like complete and total garbage. This feeling was something that I struggled with a lot as a kid (along with my beaver teeth...but that’s another story), until I realized that hey, we’re all different, and that's okay. So instead of seeing myself as the inferior orange, I saw myself as a different fruit (a watermelon! Why not?) and when some nasty-faced "customer" compared me and my orange-twin, I didn’t feel so bad.

2.  Embrace your good and discard your bad. I’ve never been a fan of the saying “I was born that way,” no matter how catchy of a song it makes. Whether you want to admit it or not, we were all born with some bad habits and dispositions (e.g. biting your nails, the tendency to be rude, etc), but that’s okay, because the point of this life is progression!  We were given a certain amount of time in this world, so why not use it to become the best version of yourself?  Instead of accepting the good and the bad of your personality, enrich and strengthen your skills and your positive attributes (such as charitableness, optimism, etc) and work on minimizing and eventually COMPLETELY OBLITERATING your negative ones.

3.  Find your passion and stick to it. Whether it’s being a clam expert (my uncle’s one, okay, they’re real) or belting it out on the stage, you need to find what you love about life, and it needs to be productive (put DOWN the video games). You need to find that one thing that you just can’t get enough of and run with it. But don’t just hide it in your closet; find a way to better the world around you with your passion. Seeing your passion bless and inspire others is pretty much the only other thing that can bring you true happiness. And if you don’t believe me, then I dare you to give these steps a try.

How did TanTan get so SMART?

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