Being You

MATT ALLEN

Being You!

The Importance of Staying True to Yourself

Our time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.

– Steve Jobs

Recently, I had the pleasure and privilege to hear and then interview Dr Ashley Bloomfield as part of a speaker series held at Scots College. What struck me most throughout Ashley’s speech and the follow up question and answer session was his complete authenticity. Throughout his presentation he reiterated three major points - tell the truth, demonstrate humility and most importantly, be yourself.

Most people would agree that these three qualities are what we all aspire to being, but do we?

These three characteristics (and many others) that define who you are as a person and how people perceive you are steeped in tradition, family values, common courtesy and common sense. The problem I see with common sense these days though, is that it isn’t always that common!

I believe the reason why so many New Zealanders came to trust Dr Bloomfield was that he was “real.” We could relate to him, not because he is the Director General of Health but simply because he’s a good bloke, a soft spoken father of three, a husband, a neighbour, a friend and a person that would stop in the street to say, “Gidday.” In my view, telling the truth, demonstrating humility and being yourself are the building blocks to being a good person, a person that people want to be around, a person people can trust and in the midst of a world pandemic, a person that a country of five million could rely upon at 1pm each day to lead us through a time of such uncertainty.

Dr Bloomfield reinforced the notion of “knowing your why.” To me, I took this as understanding what it is to be you. As individuals, being truthful means that we can grow and mature and learn from our mistakes. Being humble is considered one of the virtues of the human condition, along with kindness.

MATT ALLEN

“When you are always yourself, you are more likely to have focus and direction in your life.”

Why should you always be yourself? According to www. lifehack.org, you should strive to be yourself at all times because you will:

1. Live in Alignment with Your Values and Beliefs

Being yourself is all about knowing what you believe in and the values that you live by. When you are not yourself, you will take on the values and beliefs of others.

2. Establish Your Own Identity

When you are able to have a solid foundation of being you, you are establishing your own sense of identity. No matter what happens in your life, you will always know who you are. Without establishing your own identity, you may easily conform and lose yourself.

3. Build Courage

It takes a great amount of courage when you decide to take the path that goes against the crowd. The reason why the majority of people take the broad path is because it’s easy. It’s more of a challenge when you stay true to yourself and establish your own identity.

4. Establish Boundaries

When you are always yourself, you know what your limits are and the boundaries that you have set for yourself. If you are always yourself and you establish boundaries, you are more likely to be aware when people start taking advantage of you.

5. Find Focus and Direction

you are, you are more likely to know the goals you want to accomplish and how to go about accomplishing them.

Dr Ashley Bloomfield may be remembered in history for how he informed an entire nation about how to deal with a global pandemic on a day-to-day basis but I think he may have also taught us how being true to yourself might just be the best protection you’ll ever need. As Oscar Wilde once said, “Be yourself, everybody else is already taken.”

Matt Allen

Middle School Principal Matt Allen joined Scots College in 2013. He has an extensive history with both primary and secondary education, in New Zealand and England, where he taught for two years. Matt is a passionate educator who strongly believes that the balance between academic, cultural, sporting and special character development is essential for establishing the vital skills needed to adapt to an ever increasing globalisation of learners. Matt can be contacted through email: allenm@scotscollege.school.nz