I happened upon a book recently entitled "Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken" by Mike Robbins. Essentially a book about being your own person.

Now, I'm not one to frequent the self-help section of the local bookshop, but I do have a love of reading. I have a fairly decent collection of hard-copy books ranging from authors such as Dickens, Elliot, Kipling, Twain, Orwell, Hemingway to Plato, Homer and Sun Tzu. I also enjoy reading crime, thriller, science fiction and fantasy novels. I've also recently become interested in reading everything relating to cryptocurrency. Yes, I'm a nerd.

I've recently started to think more about my life - past, present and what is in store for me in the future. Perhaps as I'm now in my fourties, I've realised that my life is essentially half over. Morbid I know, but it's true. Who knows, I may live until I'm well over a hundred, but I also may be hit by a bus tomorrow.

Essentially, Mike Robbins talks about being OK with your own authenticity. That we owe it to everyone we care about to empower ourselves from the inside and not be affected by other people and what they think. It made me take stock and ponder where I am in life and how I'd like things to be different.

So, do you tip-toe through life? Do you fear social judgement? Does that fear limit, constrain or narrow your choices or actions? Why are we so concerned about what others think of us? We should be open to other people's opinions, consider their feelings and be open to what they think, but decide for ourselves on how to act.

I'm at a stage in my life now where I'm reasonably unswayed by social pressure. Sure I'm affected by criticism and not immune to occasional moments of embarrassment, but I am less affected nowadays than when I was in my teens and into my twenties. I believe that experience in life has essentially made me more immune to the challenge of others' opinions.

The saying goes that the unhappiest people in this world, are those who care the most about what other people think. Clearly that's a broad generic statement that is now common in the English language (especially here in Australia anyway), but it does ring true.

So, give up trying to please everybody. Stop taking things personally and don't apologise for being you! Wolves don't lose any sleep over the opinions of sheep!

Thinking too much of what others think of YOU, ultimately changes how you think of yourself.

I think that Dr. Seuss said it best - "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind".

So, go out there and be yourself. Be the best that you can be. Believe in yourself!

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