Always be different
In the past few years, many statements have become clichés. The ‘be different’ movement made everyone want to individualise themselves to stand out. Meaning that the new standard is “different”. The concept of being different has become a search of copy cats, easily influenced personalities now find themselves searching for standing out as if they are a kid fighting for their parent’s attention. In all of us, there is at least one thing that makes us stand out. The reality is that in some situations, we can´t always be different. If you’re going to dress like a frog for a week, do it but don´t do it for the attention of being different. We have too much pressure to stand out that it ends up not being natural. So instead we should say something like never lose the unicorn inside you even when you can´t show it.
Forget your past
How can we forget what made us? If memories shape who we are, then if we forget our history, aren´t we forgetting ourselves? We obviously shouldn´t let painful memories haunt us, but in spite of this, they also are what mould us. This saying erases the fact that as humans, memory is our most precious treasure, that with it, we learn and grow. The thought of forgetting is a threat to start over and eventually do the same thing all over again. We should forgive the past so we can move on though never forget what made you. I guess better than forget your past is to remember what made you but forgive what holds you.
Follow your heart
Your heart and mind will always fight an internal war inside you, one that unfortunately will never end becomes one does not merely choose a side forever. The fight between following an emotion without touching reason is always tempting, but logic is the bible of our mistakes talking to us. In the theatre of the heart, we feel everything intensely from the impulsive hot fury to the passionate melting love, forcing us to follow every mood impulsively as if it were law. The mind is the compass that shows us every option before we decide. We are in the constant trail between two very different parties, the idea would be to have a bit of both, but they fight to win. This saying should say listen to your mind then decide if you should follow your heart. Many decisions need a bold, terrifying jump because they are emotional decisions. Other times the decision needs an intelligent planned out move from the mind. The rule should be to use your heart but never forget your mind.
Time heals everything
That is the vaguest statement I have ever read, time happens in everything, but that does not mean it is a variable in everything. The truth is that only you can heal yourself. Breaking news – we all improve at different speeds, with different methods, yet time is not one component. You don´t see people mark. Write in their calendar a date to be healed because what they do write in their schedule is ways to make the process happen. Time can go by but that is not the point. The only thing that time can give you is different memories to substitute the ones that haunt you. The fact is that this saying should say that only you can heal yourself from what you are open to fixing.
Confront your fears
Fear in this statement means insecurities, complexities, worries, anxieties or stress. The sentence does introduce a good rule but with the wrong word. This only helps to explain why our generation has started using words without feeling their actual power, vulgarising them and eventually making their true meaning extinct.
Everything happens for a reason
By saying this, we create a movement were people see signs in everything. Their subconscious is always finding answers for things that happen in their life, so they search every little detail in the atmosphere to explain why. Making people believe that it all happens for a reason may give them faith or security but also makes them scared. After a while, people create superstitions and meanings to certain things, becoming afraid of the randomness of life. We can´t know if things happen for a reason, but we shouldn’t advertise fear. Instead, we should only say that life is made of choices, and every decision you make becomes what happens to you. Accepting a gum today can make you the president tomorrow as well as choosing the left road can leave you in a hospital.
Fake it until you make it.
Finally, this is the advice that I despise the most. Should I fake a personality until I can become it? Doesn´t that kind of behaviour have traits of personality disorder or at least compulsive liar signs? Why are we advising people to become others instead of bettering themselves? Why is this used when talking to people with mental health issues as advice for happiness or too shy people as a way to become an extrovert? In no way, we should fake what is inside us. We were made in a unique way (as cliché as this sounds) following a character to become one is going against our nature. This sentence should only say that you should work until you become better but not fake.
