Be Yourself
On owning your flavour
Everyone’s cup of tea is no one’s cup of tea.
At some point you have to decide if you want to be vanilla or mint chocolate chip. Everyone’s okay with vanilla. But no one loves it. No one’s ever recommended to a friend that they try vanilla. They never put vanilla at the head table of their wedding party. Or call vanilla when times are tough and they need a friend who will listen, laugh, or cry with them. No one’s really ever said a bad word about it though, other than maybe not saying a word about it at all. Is indifference worse than hate?
Mint chocolate chip though. It’s not for everyone.
Some find it artificially green, like, what are you trying to prove? But it just loves expressing itself. It wants you to know before you try it: it’s minty. It might not be for you. Some think its too sweet. Others get a tang. But for a select group of people, mint chocolate chip is just right. It’s the one they go to the grocery store for when they’re feeling blue. The one they celebrate a win with after a hard fought victory. It’s their number one. Their go-to. Old faithful.
If you aim to please everyone in life, you please no one. Fly your freak flag. Love something niche. Filter yourself less. Have the courage to be disliked. As Joseph Campbell one said, follow your bliss.
You’re not living your one precious life if you’re trying to please everyone.
Vanilla never had an enemy. But it never had a true friend, either.