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Why Would You Want To Be Anyone Else?
A think piece on social conditioning, growing up not wanting to be myself, and one day waking up with a strong want to be me.
Always be a first-rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else. — Judy Garland
While sipping on a beverage I’ve been wanting to try, a burning question cut through the silence in my mind, “Why would any of us want to be someone else?”? All of us have been plagued by this at some point. There is this feeling that if we could escape our current lives and enter another’s, things would be better. Our motivations may differ. While some of us want to be someone else because we see luxury cars, others of us are motivated by the flawless porcelain skin that seems to outshine our own imperfect and lived-in skin. When does that desire to have someone’s life instead of our own start? Is it something we’re conditioned into? Do we think someone else’s life would mean we would feel better?
I remember as a little girl it started early for me. On TV, I saw actresses who lived these glamorous lives and looked so happy. None of them looked like me or remotely represented my life. This created a sense of isolation inside of me that made me question if I really wanted to be myself. Did I really want to be this misunderstood brown girl growing up in a small town no-one had a clue existed?
