Who We Are

In case you haven't noticed, I like inspirational quotes.  I like them so much that when I finish a blog post, I search for a quote to add to the bottom.  I also have a folder where I've saved far too many like the one on the left that I've grabbed from Facebook and other places.

Why?  I'm not sure.  I find many of them inspiring.  Wow, what a concept!  On those days when nothing seems to be going right, one of those quotes can change at least a few moments of my day.

How much time do we spend on figuring out who we are?  We simply are, right?  We change and evolve as we grow, internalizing somewhere in our subconscious everything we think and experience.  Every thought, every action, every word we speak, hear and read make me ME and you YOU.

This morning, I was reading my Facebook timeline and came across another one of those links to silly tests.  With those, I have a little more constraint than I do with inspirational quotes, but this one, What Religion Should You Actually Be?, drew me in out of curiosity, just as far too many do.  I knew that, more than likely, none of the optional answers to the questions would be my answer.  But, hey, it's Saturday, why not give it a try?

I took the test and, as I suspected, very few (one or two?) questions gave me the choice of the answer I needed.  As it turned out, the outcome of my test was Buddhism.  O-o-o-kay.  If you say so.  But my first thought was to think how sad it is that people's beliefs are pigeonholed into one or another.  I am who I am.

Admittedly, I was and still am considered weird.  The number of times people told me so is infinite.  Is weird good or bad?  And just what does that mean?

From Dictionary.com on weird
adjective, weird·er, weird·est.

1. involving or suggesting the supernatural; unearthly or uncanny: a weird sound; weird lights.  (No, that isn't me, although I do think about those things now and then and even try to learn more about them.  Knowledge is power, right?)
2. fantastic; bizarre: a weird getup.  (I like fanastic.  Who wouldn't?  But is bizarre the right word?)
3. Archaic. concerned with or controlling fate or destiny.  (I'm iffy on this one.)

Maybe it's simply that I'm not pigeonhole-y enough.  Those online tests tell me exactly that.  I don't fit anywhere.  And that's okay.  We're each individual with our own view of everything, including ourselves.

My philosophy?  Be who you are and love whatever that is, as long as you don't hurt others physically or emotionally.  Add to that to be the best you can be and continue to improve yourself in all ways throughout life.  Ol' Will Shakespeare's quote in today's image pretty much says it all.

Who are you?

I don't pretend to be captain weird. I just do what I do. ~ Johnny Depp