“That’s just not me.” That’s what the 19-year-old young man in my office said to me.
It wasn’t the first time I'd heard someone utter that phrase to me. I had heard it many times in many places and from many people. But somehow hearing it that day from a young man who had just been dealt such an awful blow, I finally truly heard it for the first time.
At the time, I accepted this statement as an accurate description of how he saw himself. But that moment stayed with me for a long time. How could this young man be so conclusive with so little life experience under his belt?
Perhaps what he meant to say was, “I like myself the way I am,” somehow denying the impact of the accident that left him blind in one eye. Was he implying that he didn’t want to change? Or was he protesting the direction his life was taking him.
Why do we choose to limit ourselves and why are we so adamant about avoiding change?
How comfortable are we with “change”? Don’t we believe that “varying our ways” too much implies that we are unstable?
