Dear Mr. Vernon,

We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong, but we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us – in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain…and an athlete…and a basket case…a princess…and a criminal…

Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours,

The Breakfast Club

This is not just a simple movie quote, or statement that is to be taken lightly. Think about it…Really think about it.

You wander though life, thinking that you are perceived by everyone as you see yourself. You feel that you are the same person, same identity to everyone – when that simply isn’t what reality is. Each person that crosses your path and interacts with you has a new, different, and largely subjective opinion of who you are.

You are many unique things to so many different people. It is what they see that defines you in their eyes. That leads me to look at my life in a very different way. I am many different personas to so many different people. That perception; their definition, and subsequent opinion of me is based on their interpretation of who I am – not who I really am, who I project who I am, or even who I see myself as.

That thought you have of me right now as a person will be radically different than what another person reading this will be.

What does that mean to you, and more importantly – to the people you have in your life?

It means, in the simplest terms and most convenient definitions – that people will see you in their own image, and see you how they want to see you; regardless of who you really are. That is life – and what you need to understand before you can become the person you want to be.

So just be yourself – Spend your time being you. Live up to your expectations, not the expectations and opinions of others – because no matter how hard you try, they will always see you however they want to see you.  That my friends is something you cannot control without sacrificing who you are and projecting to them the “someone” you aren’t.