Being You

Someone asked me last week if I could be anyone in the world, past or present who would I be. Interesting question. And now WordPress’ Postaday challenge for today is “if you could be any fictional character who would you be?” There’s no such thing as coincidence!

I think the novelty value of borrowing someone else’s life for a while would be really fun – and borrowing bits of their lives on a longer term basis definitely has an appeal – I’d borrow Leonardo Da Vinci’s wisdom, Jessica Rabbit’s figure and Bill Gates’ bank account any day – oh and Oprah Winfrey‘s shoe collection would get a very good home with me!

But to be honest, if I could choose anyone’s life to live it would have to be my own! Even with the challenging bits! It’s really easy to look at someone else’s life and think “It’s alright for them” but the truth is if you had to live their life you would find it every bit as challenging as your own. Even people who look on the outside to be supremely confident and successful have challenges – in fact some would say the more successful you are the bigger your challenges.

When you see a successful person you are only seeing the part of their life that they choose to project, and to a large extent you are only seeing the part that you choose to see. What you rarely see is the hard work, failures, disappointments, betrayals, frustrations that inevitably come along with a successful life. I’m not trying to depress you here, what I’m saying is that success is only part of the picture. Every meaningful life has its challenges and the bigger your life the bigger your challenges. But of course the rewards are bigger too.

So I would suggest that the best life you can live is your own. Lets face it – that’s where you’ve had the most practice!