Rocker Mom Kat wrote a fantastic piece on her own experience with conformity and finding strength in her individuality. It is a thoughtful, inspiring and well-written piece. I’m encouraging you to drop by her site and have a read.
Beyond college, there is work and lovelife. I’m certain you’ve had your share of “When will you have a boyfriend?” or “When will you get married?” or “When will you have kids?” A part of society has set a standard that they wish the rest could conform too. And the truth is, you really don’t have to.
The great thing about conformity is that eventually you intimately discover your own truth. You discover how different you are. It is then your choice where to take your uniqueness. All it takes is courage to let your truth shine.
Hi! I'm Toni Tiu,
and I've been blogging at
at Wifely Steps since 2003. This started as a blog to help newly weds adjust to married life. It has evolved into a home and parenting blog. I write about things close to my heart -- good eats, good reads, family, marriage, and the little things that make everyday happy.
Junnie
March 16, 2007 at 8:55 pm (17 years ago)“What will others say?” “Look, someone’s looking at you” “Remember, people see you” “That’s not the norm”
Sooooooo? I’ve always been accustomed to being different – without asking nor creating attention – just different. I follow rules, I wear my uniform and I conform, I dont see myself not being in the norm when it comes to set of procedures. I remember when I was young and being with friends all afternoon til ‘sawa’ was the way everyone was doing it in our neighborhood, I’d be coming home at exactly 6pm for Angelus.
“Killjoy” or “tama na yan at baka lumagpas ka sa langit” was always what some of them chided.
Doing otherwise was not me. One time, after 2 decades, the same barkada had their own kids, and I was visiting, I heard my friend say to his boy, “hey get home, wash, and prepare for dinner, its already 6pm”.
“Daddy, hindi ka ba sasama sa Angelus?” the kid retorted coming in their house. My friend and I smiled.
Tessa
March 17, 2007 at 4:54 am (17 years ago)Yes Toni, very well said!! One way of being open minded is to consider the ideologies and values of what other people are trying to express for the truth is as vast as the universe itself because it’s engineered to be bigger than any individual.
Much like our lives, no matter how different it is from other people we are still tethered by human nature for we are all created to live our own purpose and to obtain self actualization in whatever form it might take.
Like you said basically; the truth is bigger that we think it is, such is the meaning of life.
Take care, Toni!!
Jerome aka Bridget Jones
March 17, 2007 at 2:30 pm (17 years ago)My experience is backwards. I have always been a non-conformist. Going against the flow was where I really explored and found my uniqueness. But as I found that I was really unique, I sort of had the feeling of “not belonging.” I realized that I was not trying to be unique–I was trying to be different. It was a humbling experience that taught me to acknowledge the wonderful nature of commonalities for this connotes acceptance of co-existence. This made it clearer for me as to my uniqueness. There may be divas out there, but I assure you…I AM MY OWN DIVA… hahahahahaha! ang ganda na di ba? thanks for this post, tonigurl! hugs!
kat
March 20, 2007 at 2:04 am (17 years ago)toni-tones! thank you for the lovely reference to my blog! what a sweet and unexpected surprise! *hugs*
jey
March 20, 2007 at 6:15 pm (17 years ago)as always, timing ang post mo. i don’t blog hop as often as before but every time i’m reading your entries you hit me right to the core. and you inspire me. thanks, toni!
vina
March 21, 2007 at 11:10 am (17 years ago)i have found myself at 30.