Key Takeaway: Your individuality is the key to your purpose, and it is uniquely you – while you cannot be like anyone else, nobody can be like you either. Don’t strive to be like anyone else (except for Christ), but be an unbeatable you!
The famous actress Judy Garland once said, “Always be a first-rate version of yourself and not a second-rate version of someone else.” For our purposes (word play intended), there is perhaps no greater wisdom than this short but powerful quote (except the wisdom of fearing the Lord God, as laid out in the Book of Yeshua ben Sira or Sirach).
I call this site The Daily Aloy. But as its direction grew, I realized that it may as well be called The Daily You, because I want to help empower you to find your purpose and live by it everyday, a purpose built on and from conscious responsibility and faith-driven service. It’s all about YOU, and it’s supposed to be integral, holistic… running in your very bloodstream, your daily lifestyle: all geared towards your purpose.
And no one can ever replicate it. As The Purpose Driven Life put it so aptly, you are a unique creation, and so you can never truly compare yourself with others (something I always fail to remember). Your so-called Life Kit – your own set of gifts, abilities, talents, and even circumstances – can be used properly by only one user, and that user is you. If you try to use other people’s Life Kits, or if others try to use yours, the result will never be complete or perfect. Each person has their own Life Kit, and both the privilege and duty to use it properly and completely.
There’s a reason one of the words used to refer to us is “individual”, such as “…there are x individuals in the room…” or “…community individuals are each being empowered…”. I use it myself, in fact, to emphasize the fact that not only are we individual human beings each with innate dignity, but also that no one can ever be like us. Your individuality is undeniable, but most importantly, it matters.
I always tend to envy some people close to me because I feel that they “always have it all” – not money, not status… okay, fine, money sometimes :p – but because they’ve achieved already (and at early ages at that!) things I want to achieve. Like an already-successful social entrepreneur, or someone who’s so independent and empowered they can live on their own literally already, or a really intelligent person who knows so much. Yes, I’ll admit this. But when you think about it, there isn’t really any point in envying, because their individuality is different from mine own, and perhaps one’s individuality is also temporal in difference – again, there’re no late bloomers, only “the right time”.
There is no way we can fully achieve our potential and our purpose without understanding, accepting, and living your individuality. Higher purpose, I believe, is individuality taken to the next level, individuality that includes others instead of just yourself. Yet they are also so intertwined together that to lose one is to lose the other. Your purpose is uniquely yours, both an honor and a responsibility.
So there’s no need to be the next Steve Jobs or the next Madonna, but you should always be the first you. Embrace your you-ness and use it to serve others and your God.
Have a purposeful weekend ahead!
Aloy Chua 