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Yank your Youness
What is it about you that makes you different to everybody else? Apart from the obvious answer of “your fingerprints” can you say what it is about you that seperates you from everybody else on the planet? Despite being alike as human beings, we are all individuals, we are all unique, and just like
snowflakes there are no two the same. It is that very difference between us that marks us out to other people. Is that something that you take pride in or do you spend your time covering it up and trying to blend into the crowd, become unnoticable? It reminds me of the clip from the film “The Life Of Brian” where the Brian is saying to the crowd that they are all individuals and they all chant after him “we are all individuals” and then he tells them that they are all different and they all chant “we are all different” then one person quietly says “I’m not!” and someone in the crowd goes “shush!” Do you have moments in your life where you say “I’m not” or do you stay quiet or chant with the crowd?
So which category do you fall into? The follow the herd mentality or the stand out and be heard individual? “Sheeple” an acquaintance of mine recently called it, a rather derogitary remark, which 
he explained as follows: “sheep just follow the leader, but there is no actual leader and they just wander aimlessly following other sheep, silly animals!. Some people would prefer be told what to think and do rather than use the brains they have to develop their own opinions and act accordingly”. Are you a “sheeple”? Do you look to others all the time to see what the crowd is doing, how the crowd feels, what the crowd is saying before you decide to express yourself? Do you try to cover up the very thing that sets you apart from everyone else like it is something to be ashamed of, kept hidden in case someone might notice and react negatively to your youness? For some suppressing their own opinions and adopting the opinions of the people they associate hoping that by doing so they will be accepted, has become a way of life. After a while they stop making decisions for themselves and hand responsiblity of their lives over to others, who don’t always steer it in the direction they wanted. This then leads to resentments and a re-surfacing of the very youness that was suppress in the first place.
I spent years trying to blend into the crowd, to be invisible to the nay-sayers, the teasers, the people who acted as if they had the right to decide what was and was not acceptable. Mostly at first it was because I accepted the views of my mother who, with good intentions, felt drawing
unnecessary attention to yourself was wrong, and then later because of the fear of ridicule and rejection. Yet despite that I have always had a desire to be recognised and accepted for being different, having my own opinions heard. Quite a natural way to be, it would seem. We like to have our individual opinions accepted by others, yet we don’t want to be open to any form of rejection of those opinions. Do you yank at your youness, expose it to all the elements of human nature, acceptance, rejection, praise, ridicule and do so with pride that there is not a single soul on the planet that is exactly like you, that you bring to everything you do a unique perspective that is worthy of airing.
The best way to overcome the confict of being accepted by the crowd as being one individual, separate, yet part of the collective is to become comfortable with yourself. To learn who you are, what your values and beliefs are, what standards you will and will not accept and to stick with it, not matter what anyone else attempts to make you do. Like I have said before: “only you are living your life“, so go on, yank your youness!