"Dare to Be Different."

My dad has a saying that has stuck with us, his 9 children. “Dare to be different.”

The meaning of this saying has changed for me as I get older.

When us kids were growing up, “Dare to be different” was a motto that encouraged us to think for ourselves and not just follow other people. If what the others were doing was “wrong” and they wanted us to join them, then “dare to be different” meant don’t join in and don’t give in to peer pressure.

In school, I can remember that there were some…“slackers”- kids just going to school to just go to school. They didn’t try at much. They just put in the time. Dad would say to his kids, “Dare to be different.” Meaning: “Excel. Push yourself. Be all you can be. Reach higher.”

As an adult, I still hear my dad, “Dare to be different.” But it has a different meaning again. Now, to me it means “dare to be different than who I think I am”.

Maybe you can relate to this…

You see yourself and think about yourself in a certain way. You label yourself. “I am anxious.” “I’m not good at making phone calls.” “I always stay up until midnight.”

You continue to do these certain things and feel this certain way because doing and feeling that is “you”. You are being…well…you.

But what if you dared to be different?

What if you allowed yourself to be different than who you think you are?

What if you stopped seeing yourself as an “anxious person” and allowed yourself to dare to feel a different way? What if you dared to see yourself as being good at making phone calls? What if you dared to be different than yourself and go to bed early?

We unconsciously trap ourselves, we limit ourselves by the way we view and label ourselves.

Being who-you-know-yourself-to-be is comfortable. It’s predictable. It’s alluring to stay in this rut of being the same. But no growth is possible by staying the same.

We can’t reach a higher potential, we can’t be all that we were created to be if we stay the same.

Dare to be different.

Dare to be different than who you think you are.

I thank my dad for giving me such wisdom. I know for sure that I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for him.

In what way can you “dare to be different” today?

Take the Challenge and dare to be happier than you are now. Start here.

Here’s to conquering stress.

With heart,

The Stress Experts