Are You Unique Or Are You Simply A Sheep?

“Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I’ve ever known” – Chuck Palahniuk

Hmmmmm… Now that’s a pretty penny to ponder upon, and that was some solid alliteration if I do say so myself!

A friend of mine sent me an image with the above mentioned quote and it made me think about everything and everyone that has had an impact on my life… Am I a combined product of what they portrayed, have a plagiarised parts of people’s personas simply to exist with a little more fluidity on this planet…

I think the truth is yes, and no, with a little bit of maybe thrown in there… We all develop “survival” techniques throughout life, and a lot of that is realising when someone portrays something that others seem to be drawn to and learning how to portray something similar.

I remember watching it happen at school, we all tend to gravitate towards like minded people, we develop cliques because we need to feel comfortable, within those cliques we start using the same colloquialism, we start making the same jokes, dressing the same, liking the same music, and so it goes on… The Sportsman hang around with the sportsman, the smart with the smart, the socially awkward with their kith and kin…

The most fascinating for me was to watch the Nomads, the guys who seemed to effortlessly fit into any group they chose to join, they could be stoners, and you’d find them sitting in a dark corner or at the furthest end of the field talking in a language seemingly only understood by the inebriated minds you see before you, then suddenly you’d find them (or in most cases one) being asked to join the math or debate club, where the language was far more eloquent, far more pretentious than in any other section, or that nomad would be found at the top of one of the sports teams… Those were the people I looked up to, and the reason I did was because they had this game waxed, adapt and survive, survival of the fittest and all of that jazz… It became apparent to me quite early on that, because we are all essentially different, people handle situations in a variety of ways, some better than others, and if I was to get the best out of my youth and subsequent situations it was imperative that I be aware of these different reactions and learn how to adapt accordingly. In a situation where eloquence was required to get the best result, then I would need to be eloquent, in a situation where aggression was required then I would need to learn how to be aggressive, and so on and so forth…

Manipulation of the elements, which in this case is human behaviour, isn’t a bad thing. We put such a negative connotation onto the idea of manipulation, despite the fact that we manipulate things constantly on a day to day basis, not causing harm but rather aiding ourselves… We manipulate a cigarette by ashing, manipulate a chair by moving it into a more comfortable position, we talk to someone in a more respectful tone in order to get them to listen to us, these are all manipulations that aid us without harming another being.

Although this comment by Chuck is rather ambiguous in nature, I think that he may be eluding to this fact: on a daily basis we encounter people who change our lives based on the way that they act, we adapt accordingly, which is human nature.

So, yes you may be the combined effort of everyone you have ever met, and while that may make you “unoriginal”, it simultaneously makes you completely original, utterly unique in your own right, for none of us encounter the exact same people throughout our lives, none of us are the combination of precisely the same people, and not a single one of us on this planet reacts exactly the same way, in every way, as another being… Revel in that fact, stop trying to be “normal’, stop questioning the way you behave, the way you think, the way you are perceived. If someone thinks you’re weird, well, say thank you, because you are weird! You’re meant to be different, you’re meant to think differently, because the way you’ve learnt to adapt is different to everyone else’s.

Deep down inside there is hole in your soul, deep down inside there is a missing piece of heaven you are so desperately meant to see, hear, taste and experience, and everything you have learnt so far, everything you have experienced is designed to help you in that journey.

The best way to find yourself is to get completely and utterly lost! There is nothing more beautiful that a wandering soul, there is nothing more exciting than a person who has no idea where they’re going or where they want to go, what a beautifully perfect place to start discovering your place in this world? If you never experience what you don’t want to do, how will you ever find what you are meant to be…

Use your ability to plagiarise people’s characters, use your understanding of people’s behaviours to learn and adapt and manipulate things to help you get where you need to be, we are all part of each other’s journey, everything done, said and felt is designed to teach those we come across and those we come across are designed to teach us, help us grow and change according to our purpose.

Become what you were meant to be!

Go Be Happy!! Much love freaks…