For a long time, my favourite quote was by Banksy: “when you get tired, learn to rest and not quit.” I think they’re pretty amazing words to live by but from how obsessed I am with quotes, I’m surprised that no other quote has resonated with me strongly enough for me to consider making it my favourite quote. However, while scrolling through my friend’s finsta some weeks ago, I found it. My new mantra was staring right at me and it came right when I needed it.
A big part of my love for the Banksy quote was that it spoke to me directly. At every point that I read it, I needed motivation not to give up on myself or what I was working on. I needed a reminder that giving up should never be the first resort. Sometimes we just need a break because we’ve been going for so long and the time has come for us to step back, rejuvenate and bounce back stronger. After about 4 years of repeating this to myself, it’s become a way of life and I’ve become excellent at allowing myself to take breaks when I need them. So, I figured I needed something new to learn.
A big insecurity of mine is that I don’t fit into any crown really well. This generation has done a great job of creating definitions for what it thinks is every type of person but I never really felt like I was included. Great job to us for being more inclusive and whatnot, but part of insisting on inclusivity means that those who aren’t yet recognised feel like they’re on the outside. There are too many identities waiting on being recognized and validated for us to take this one protest or social media campaign at a time, and I know that mine is one of them.
Knowing this didn’t stop me from trying to fit a certain description though – subconsciously and while aware. I tried to like the things that “everyone else” likes and I tried to learn the things that “everyone else” knows how to do. Not just that, but I felt sort of mad at myself when I didn’t dress the way everyone dressed, or do my makeup the same way, or watch Netflix for the same amount of time. We were told for so long that it’s great being different but now, it’s almost like there are enough differences being celebrated that anyone one that’s even more different is just too much. I’m tired of trying to fit into certain boxes and out of other ones because there is no box that I always feel like I fit into. So, for months, I was searching for a life quote that would remind me again that it was okay to feel however I felt about whoever I was at that moment, and boy did I find it. So I leave this with those that have maybe felt the way that I do:
Let yourself respond authentically to each moment as it arrives without being bound to the narrative of who you think you are. The truth of your existence is as ever-changing and infinite as the universe is ever-changing and infinite. Abandon the stories of your past self and be present and alive in this very moment.
The only “you” that you should strive to be is the “you” that you feel like being at that moment. Don’t ever feel like you have to be a certain way just because that’s who you’ve always been or because that’s who society expects you to be. Screw being what “someone like you” is supposed to be like. Be whoever the hell you want. There is not just one way for you to exist so why not exist in all the ways?