DEEP SUBJECT....could you give me an answer???

Question

Do you try to be different from the people around you?...

what i mean is...do you try to be like everyone else...or do you intentionally try to be someone unique and different...a person who stands out...and if you do...have you succeeded...because whatever you've done to try and stand out...is that something that no one else has done or tried to do...and if it is something someone else has done...does that still make you different...because of the fact that you're still like someone else...or...do you still believe you're different from everyone else...because to me...everyones the same...no matter how different they try to be....they're just like everyone else....same fears...same wants, needs, and everyones emotions...i believe they're all the same, fuelled by the same thing...and the people who believe otherwise are in denial...

so bascially my question...do you consider yourself unique and why?....could you actually convince me...could you change my mind???

Answer 1

.....I don't TRY to be different from everyone else. I AM different. I don't have to try. And no, I certainly don't try to be like other people. I wouldn't want to be. I want to be myself.

Every person IS different. The major components of self...
- Knowledge
- Skills
- Experience
- Memories
- Personality characteristics
- Character traits
- Needs and wants
- Feelings
- Thought processes
- Behavior patterns and habits
- Goals
- Beliefs
- Values
- Attitudes

On any of these internal measures, I am different. Taken as a whole, I am vastly different.

And so are you. The more you develop who you are, and the more you learn about who you are, the more you'll appreciate this.

To me, the idea that every person is the same is totally preposterous. If you have a big need to be like other people, you're welcome to believe otherwise.

Answer 2

I don't do either -- I certainly don't try to be like others, but I don't TRY to be different.

I'm me.

Yes, for any one thing you do or say or feel, there have been people who have been that, done there before.

There have been people who have put underwear on their heads (for a nutty example of a non-normal thing).

I see no reason to value being different just for the sake of being different -- it's whether what you're doing is a good thing, or is what you want to do (is, say, a fun thing -- as long as it's harmless).

What makes us different from each other is all the stuff, taken together.

Yes, everybody gets, say, cranky. That alone doesn't make us unique.

Some people get cranky over things that others don't.

So we ARE varied -- in how often we get cranky, what makes us cranky, how cranky we get, how we act when cranky, how we get over being cranky, and what that takes.

(And, of course, we aren't perfectly consistent over time, either.)

We also don't all have exactly the same fears as everyone else. You can analyze fears into general categories, and say they all fall into one of the categories, but that doesn't make them identical to each other.

Nor are we identical in our talents, apptitudes, abilities, or skills.

But when you take the whole package -- all the person's feelings, actions, habits, ways of looking at things, specific goals, abilities, aptitudes, and talents, what they do and don't know, their experiences, and how they've reacted to them, and all their thoughts, you get much more variation among people.

I have come up with ideas that I did not get from any other person, they arose out of my background knowledge and interests, and the thinking I was doing at the time.

Although my thinking has much in common with a lot of people, no one thinks in a way identical to me.

If you were to read all the answers I've given on this site (I'm not recommending this, as there are several thousand), the combination is unlike that of any of the other millions of participants here.

There was a question a few weeks ago that I starred, asking why the asker and her friend, though at the same event (there was an accident at a picnic or something), had such different recollections -- as though they'd been at two different things.

A user I have as a Contact gave a superb answer, talking about all the things that went into their having different experiences of the same event.

You may want to check my profile and give it a read. (That user has much knowledge and expertise in psychology.)

In short, I don't think it's as either/or as you're portraying it.

Yes, all humans have much in common. But we aren't all identical to each other, either.

We have some things in common with this person, others with that, but the whole package doesn't perfectly match anyone else.

I think the uniqueness question (should I try to be like others, should I try to be unique) is pointless.

I saw a quote attributed to Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, among other works):

Always be yourself; unless you really suck.

The important thing isn't to try to be either the same or different just for difference's sake.

It's to be whatever it is that you are, in a non-sucky way.

Answer 3

What do we really know? Life is a mystery.
As far as behavior, I try to be equitable, knowing we all are equally important (or the same, in terms of value). But we all are supposed to be unique also. Take as an example your body. Each part has it's own unique function, but serves and is part of the whole body. Why would the stomach and the brain have issues about being different? They're part of the same thing.

So in one context we're all different, but in another we're the same.

Answer 4

I don't have to try too hard, because I AM unique and different. I just go WITH that. And I appreciate that I am just naturally NOT like everyone else. I'm different in that I have my own way of looking at things, and thinking. I march to the beat of my own drummer, and I do what I like.....not what's "in" or popular or what everybody else is doing, and I'm not influenced or interested in what anybody else thinks about it.

Answer 5

I always try try to be different. Life should be exciting . Been to a lot of places in America except New York City. I know how to get out of tough situtations. Still have the curiousity of a kid.

Answer 6

I don't now, nor have I ever, believed in 'conformity'. I believe in one doing one's own thing--and not following the crowd.

I'm living on fixed income now, while most of my friends and relatives are living quite comfortably. This does not bother me in the slightest--as I would not have put up with all they had to to be living the good life now. I could not have lived that type of life.

Answer 7

ahhh....My life in a box, eh? Let's leave it at the fact I am the only me I have met, I have met portions of me in others...but never all of it, I have so many....pain sometimes...gah, not getting started because i will either sound like bragging or a lie or a mental institutions answer or...*-*
Not this subject lest in person, in short, I am most certainly not like most you meet... and I never want to be like those I had to deal with in all the schools I went to (moved 9 times in high school, give or take)
Reft

Answer 8

If you're comparing yourself to and still focused on other people, then you're missing the point of true uniquity.

Answer 9

no, sometimes i like to be but, i try not to... i tell myself i'm unique and i dont need to follow anyone

its a feeling u get and u know u are one of a kind (unique)

Answer 10

No I don't try to be different, I try to just be myself. But since I am not a Christian, I tend to be an outsider everywhere.