Chiseling your Individuality

‘Fashion’ your individuality to your liking

We all agree that each person is unique and different. We are special in our own ways not only in our appearances, but also in our attitudes, opinions, behaviors and beliefs. Psychologists categorize people as extroverts or introverts, or people with Type A or Type B personalities. Yet others differentiate people in terms of religious beliefs, work traits or their strength in soft skills.

Indeed, we let other people know about us mostly through our behaviors or actions. However, irrespective of the types of categorizing individuals, we allow people to see the ‘part’ of us that we want them to see. Most times, we allow people to know about us only to the extent that what we want them to know or see, masking our true feelings, emotions or behaviors.

Of course, occasionally we forget to wear our mask, giving others a glimpse of our true self. Actually, it is when people slip that others get to see their true behavior – meek, spineless, arrogant, argumentative, and egoistic and so on. For example, some people need to have the last word, some have to show off, and others display ‘intelligence’, ‘humbleness’ or ‘modesty’.

Culture and Individuality

Interestingly, as scholars state, factors such as culture, education, religion, family or perceptions play a dominant role in shaping one’s behavior.  Definitely, culture is one of the important factors that influence an individual’s behavior. However, as I shared in my previous post, we can programme our minds to be ‘culturally’ different and unique in our behavior. We can and should choose to take a path that is distinctive from others. We need to design our behaviors in a way that blends with our aptitudes, traits, beliefs and ethics. However, we need to ensure that our behaviors do not trample on others’ sentiments, feelings or beliefs. If we believe that we ought to behave in a particular manner in a specific situation, we need to take that path with courage and determination, even if we are a lone traveler.

Again, as stated in my previous post, the components of culture include language, symbols, beliefs, norms, motive, knowledge, family, values or ethics. We need to assess each of these components and take relevant ones to shape our behavior. Being distinctive is trying to form our individuality based on our temperaments, attitudes, desires, emotions, or ethics that will be culturally ‘appreciated’ and ‘adorned’. Simply put, it is not going with the crowd.

Our behavior needs to reflect our interpretations and meanings attached to cultural components. Obviously, we need to inculcate values that will help us to display a ‘designed’ or ‘fashioned’ behavior that defines our individuality, in each situation. Concisely, each of us will have to design or chisel our individualistic behavior. Nevertheless, let us define our ‘individuality’, but not give scope for others to define us.