be the one and only

in my pursuit of knowledge about art journaling, i've made some observations:

-- there are about as many ways to do art journal pages as there are people on the planet.

-- there are a lot of art journalers in blog land.

-- the arts of homemaking and crafting are not dead.

-- there are a lot of beautiful blogs in blog land.

-- there are a lot of people wanting to be heard.

and the temptation for me, as i perused all these lovely art/craft/homemaking blogs (and as i peruse all the writing blogs i come across) is to change. to try to be someone i'm not. to blog perfectly.

but i will resist. this is blog is what it is. i have a unique voice and perspective, unlike anyone else's. if i'm not me, who will be?

and just in case i need more reminding, here are what others say about being unique.

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."  ~ C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)

“Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else.” ― Judy Garland

 “...be yourself- not your idea of what you think somebody else's idea of yourself should be.” ― Henry David Thoreau 

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."  ~e.e. cummings

A-Z - uniqueness

if i'm not me, who will be? no one else has my perspective, my life experiences, or my voice. how much will the world miss if i decide to hide and not let my true self come out?

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You. ~Dr. Seuss


I would much rather have regrets about not doing what people said, than regretting not doing what my heart led me to and wondering what life had been like if I'd just been myself. ~Brittany Renée


You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. ~Robin Williams


Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~Judy Garland


It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~e.e. cummings


Rabbi Zusya said that on the Day of Judgment, God would ask him, not why he had not been Moses, but why he had not been Zusya. ~Walter Kaufmann


There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls. ~Howard Thurman