Personal growth and questioning the meaning of the words we use….
As we head into a new year, many of us “resolve” to be or become something in the coming year. In the world of personal development, some leaders and teachers speak to becoming “the best version of ourselves.”
Call me logical, but…
If we are already trying to be unique individuals and/or shape unique personal brands amongst the 7.5 billion people on this planet,
Doesn’t having various “versions” of ourselves severely overcomplicate the situation?
- 7.5 billion x X versions = massive overwhelm
What “best version” really means
The statement “be/become the best version of yourself” has always dumbfounded me. What does it mean to you?
Maybe it’s my personal experience of seeing people in their rawest emotional states in hospital and in business, but when someone is lying on their death bed, no one says, “I loved the version of you who was younger and healthier.”
They say, “I love YOU.”
Not a certain version of you. YOU.
There is, was and will only ever be ONE YOU.
Not a version. Not a work in progress.
“Versions” is wildly past- or future-oriented verbiage that keeps us from appreciating all that we are.
If we keep striving for the next best version, we’re never really good enough, are we?
Our global population isn’t suffering from a need to step into a better version of ourselves, we are suffering from feeling as though we aren’t enough.
There will always a dance between appreciating all that we are, right here, right now, today and continuing to grow…
But growth is not the unveiling of some remodelled version of ourselves, it’s our clearer perception of who we already are.
No one calls a new tree a version of a tree; it is a tree.
It may look different or wiser as it grows older, but it still has the same roots (though deeper) and the same basic needs.
Stop trying to be the next version and just go out and be yourself. Be you brilliantly.
Some day in the distant future, we may very well be (technologically) creating future versions of ourselves. For now, why not stick with the simplicity of being the one and only you?!
And the next time you are tempted to repeat what everyone else is saying, STOP and question.
Question the meaning of words and sayings.
Do those words/sayings make sense for you? Do they hold true in actuality?
Great communicators are conscious to two facts:
- The meaning of words
- How they use words to create meaning
The word “version” entails a different form of something. While many may use the expression “Become the best version of yourself” to speak to awakening to all that you are, the words used mean differently.
Question what is true. Question what is true for YOU.
When you find those truths, give them a starring role in your messages for the world.
Happy communicating.
#personalbranding #entrepreneurship #businessowner #communication #uniqueness