Born an Original: The Courage to Be Yourself

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." — E.E. Cummings

The Father's Voice

In a pivotal scene from the film Blood Diamond, we witness a profound moment between a father and his son. The boy has been poisoned by the lie that he must become someone else to belong, that what he naturally offers is not good enough. His heart has been infected with the belief that his authentic self is somehow inadequate.

But his father sees past the confusion and speaks directly to his son's heart. Ignoring the external behavior and circumstances, he begins to remind the boy of everything that is unique, true, and good about him. All the qualities that make him irreplaceable and special. In that moment, love cuts through deception, and truth begins to restore what lies had stolen.

This scene captures something universal which is that we all need someone to see past our masks and speak to who we really are.

The Comparison Trap

Life bruises all of us. Every person walking this earth can compile a lengthy list of reasons why they are "not enough" to reach their full potential. But I challenge you to examine these self-defeating thoughts more carefully.

When you say you are not tall enough, I ask, compared to who? When you declare you are not attractive enough, again I ask, compared to who? When you insist you are not as blessed or gifted as others, please tell me, compared to who?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe captured this beautifully: "If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise."

Your Perfect Design

Look closely enough, and you will discover you are wonderfully made. You are exactly as you need to be to fulfill your unique purpose. The bumps and trials you have endured are not accidents. They are there to shape and refine you, like a sculptor's tools revealing the masterpiece hidden within the stone.

The choice is yours. Will you become healthier or bitter through these experiences? Will you allow them to unearth an undiscovered pearl in your life, or will you let them convince you that you are damaged goods?

Life as Construction Site

Life is both journey and story, process and an ongoing construction site. You might be in the middle of having foundations laid or perhaps starting completely over. No matter where you find yourself in this beautiful process, life is always following the original blueprint designed specifically for you.

A plan that reveals THE REAL YOU.

Hard times serve as the chisel, knocking away the parts you thought were good ideas but actually cover up the genuine gems you possess. What feels like destruction is often revelation and the removal of everything false so that everything true can finally shine.

The Choice to Be Authentic

The next time you are confronted with pressure to conform and deny your authentic self, take a deep breath and remember

 André Gide's words: "It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not."

Doubts about your uniqueness and value will inevitably attempt to creep into your mind. When they do, remember the remarkable story of your very beginning which is evidence of your worth that existed before you even took your first breath.

Your First Victory

Long before you entered this world, you were already proving your extraordinary nature. Picture this.  You were lined up in the ultimate race alongside hundreds of thousands of other competitors. Each participant shared the same basic design, the same potential to reach the finish line first. When the race began, you were thrust into chaos and had to quickly compose yourself and gain control. Then you began what amounts to swimming the English Channel multiple times over. Against overwhelming odds, you were among the very first to arrive at your destination from the hundreds of thousands who started alongside you.

But even reaching the destination was not enough. You still had to find the strength to fight your way into the winner's circle before any of the others could claim it. All of this happened before you were even shaped and formed in your mother's womb. So please do not tell me you are not a winner. Do not claim you are not unique and special. You were a champion then, and you are still a champion now.

The Unchanging Truth

No matter what has happened between that first victory and today, the same qualities that made you extraordinary then are still within you now. The courage, determination, and uniqueness that carried you to that first triumph have not disappeared. They have only been waiting for you to remember and reclaim them.

Life may have convinced you to wear masks, to hide your true nature, to believe you need to be someone else to matter. But that first race proves something undeniable and that is that you were designed to win as yourself, not as an imitation of someone else.

Your Original Purpose

You were born an original. The world doesn't need another copy of someone who already exists. It needs the first and only you. Every authentic part of your personality, every unique perspective you bring, every gift that flows naturally from who you are. These are not flaws to fix but treasures to celebrate.

The courage E.E. Cummings wrote about is not the courage to become someone new. It is the courage to become who you really are, who you have always been beneath the layers of others' expectations and your own fears.

Do not die a copy. The world is waiting, in fact begging, for your original contribution.