rule # 1.

There is no advice more overplayed and boring that "just be yourself!"  We've all heard it so many times that it has ceased to mean anything.  Being yourself means advertising campaigns and punny t-shirts with bumblebees on them.  It's hard to get past that, but I think it's something to consider trying.

Oscar Wilde once said "be yourself; everyone else is taken."  Beyond the excellent semi-colon usage, there is so much in that statement.  Being someone else is as boring and trite as just bee yourself t-shirts.  There are so many people who think what you have is so cool.  You're probably a fucking weirdo, and I love it.  Look at me.  I'm almost six feet tall, I have a lot red hair, and I'm a man-repeller through and through.  Sometimes I get bummed about not being all cute and 5'6, you know?  But then think about it.  Think about how rad your friends are.  Think about how rad they actually are, not just how much you love them. They're probably weirdos too, and they'd be boring if they weren't.  Half the time you became friends with them in the first place after bonding over their boots or something.  (Okay, that's just me?)

Be who YOU fucking are.  Ten million people on the street want to be you!  Ten million people on the street just want you!  Think of how boring you'd be if you fit in.  Being boring is way, way, way worse trait than being weird or unique or whatever. 

So rock out to that Katy Perry song you secretly love.  Wear those harem pants.  Do a little run-dance along the greenway when you're pretty sure no one else is watching and the aforementioned Katy Perry song comes on.  Be weird and quiet if you're weird and quiet!  It's so cool to embrace whatever the fuck you are.  I love you and I am probably friends with you because of your sweet glasses and funny laugh, so never change.

and thank god for that.