If Being Different Is A Crime, Then I’m Willing To Serve The Sentence
Having the freedom to be yourself, to be different and authentic should not be considered a bad thing. Being happy with or without a partner, having a strong character, and enjoying a good dose of craziness every now and then should not be criticized. So if being different is a crime, then I’ll happily serve the sentence for this.
It is said that in order to face life, you must first tear down your walls. But what if you have already overcome your insecurities and fears and it is other people who are trying to imprison you? One should not be different from the other. Inner growth, which allows you to be free and authentic, means that you must be strong both psychologically and emotionally so that you can overcome the obstacles in your environment.
Yves Pélicer, doctor and psychologist at Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris, is known for providing the general public with books on psychiatry that are very educational and easy to understand. Her approach always defends the same principle: psychology should bring back to us the dignity of being different and unique. We will only be able to find happiness if we give ourselves the chance to be who we really want to be.
However, being different in a world where we are pressured to adapt is a real personal challenge.
The complicated adventure of being yourself
Most psychological approaches point out to us how important and necessary it is to be yourself. However, it is important to tweak this idea a bit. ‘Being yourself’ does not imply that you have fleeting or incidental characteristics. For example, when my partner leaves me, it doesn’t mean I’m someone who doesn’t deserve love. Not having a job doesn’t mean I’m a failure.
Self-acceptance has nothing to do with these random occurrences. Nor does it mean accepting what others say, think, or expect of you. Being yourself means weaving a beautiful web of your identity and essence and wrapping yourself in it every day. It means being true to all your colors and powers, and constantly trying to improve yourself along the way.
However, this process of constantly constructing and integrating your ‘self’ also means that you sometimes stop and spend time on one goal in particular: really getting to know yourself. This is not just a philosophical issue; there is an extremely important aspect hidden behind it.
Knowing who you are involves trying to find out if the life you are living right now is in line with your true identity. If I’m a positive, restless dreamer, then it doesn’t work to spend all the time with someone who just wants to throw sand into my dreams.
When you become aware of who you really are, it sometimes happens that you start to realize that nothing around you actually fits your true self…
I want to be different, imperfect, free and happy
It’s not always easy to be different in a society that expects all women to be the same. We tried to make this clear from the start. Even disregarding the patriarchy we all know so well, in most modern societies, different realities exist.
Today, women are expected to squeeze in the same measure in every aspect of their lives: perfection. Every woman is expected to be successful at work, but also to become the perfect mother when the time comes. The perfect mom really comes down to a super mom, who is able to balance everything, her work, the household, her relationship, the family and her friends, all while of course she also has to make sure that she has the perfect mother. figure.
Don’t forget that she also has to worry about raising children who are just as perfect and who can read and write as early as five.
Of course, these are all positive things, and there are women who are very successful at this. Behind this demanding list of obligations, however, lies the implicit norm that every woman should be the same. A single woman is still looked at strangely. A woman who is happy with her body even if she put on a few extra pounds is seen as lazy because she wouldn’t take good care of herself. A woman who has a successful career, but has no urge to become a mother, is seen as strange. But when she is a mother, and breastfeeds in public, she also gets shamed.
In reality, being different means being brave enough to be normal. Being normal means being yourself at all times. What will never be normal is getting caught up in the frameworks, stereotypes and expectations that other people create with the urge to control your life.
Being contentedly imperfect in a world that strives for deceptive perfection is the healthiest thing you can do. Because there is nothing better than fearlessly enjoying the freedom to be yourself every day, to break the chain that dangles in front of you and tries to chain you.
