Be Yourself

Submitted By ahona_stitch
Words: 675
Pages: 3

Be Yourself - Ellen Bailey

Why would you want to be someone else
When you could be better by being yourself
Why pretend to be someone you are not
When you have something they haven't got

Cheating yourself of the life you have to live
Deprives others of that only which you can give
You have much more to offer by being just you
Than walking around in someone else's shoes

Trying to live the life of another is a mistake
It is a masquerade; nothing more than a fake
Be yourself and let your qualities show through
Others will love you more for being just you

Remember that God loves you just as you are
To Him you are already a bright shining star
Family and friends will love you more too
If you spent time practicing just being you.

I chose this text because I felt that this is a concept myself and other people in the

world today are failing to understand. I myself, try to be someone else I’m not, like a

celebrity or someone I aspire to become. Lots of times I tend to question my

identity. I sometimes ask myself questions like ‘who am I?’ or ‘do I have any purpose

in life?’, ‘why do I look like this?’ or ‘I’m I truly worth a lot”. Sometimes I try to

escape reality by becoming someone else, trying to become that person instead of

being myself. Because of these doubts that I feel, I am easily

influenced by around me, especially the media. Sometimes, I feel that if I don’t

change, people would not be able accept me for who I am but accept me by

becoming someone or something else.

I think the message the author tries to demonstrate in the poem is self image.

Self image is how are person perceives themselves. The author tries to tell the

audience that having a negative self image is wrong and lowers a person’s self

esteem. In todays society people tend to be criticized on how they look, how their

personality is or their racial or ethnic features. People are strongly affected by what

they see on tv. Magazines are normally filled with picture of thin and beautiful

young women and muscular young males. People are influenced by these images

and try to be like their favorite stars. These images that are shown by the media, are

an illusion created by makeup, hours of styling and photography. People also try to

change themselves to suit the likes of others. People aren’t always accepted by

others in society because of the way the look or their personality. They try to make

themselves into something they aren’t, to suit the