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Comment by 082349872349872 | Hacker News Reader

cf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as5lE64J1hQ

imx becoming yourself isn't about breakthroughs, it's about slowly and steadily chipping away all the things that aren't you, but ymmv

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Wow! That is really well said and I think quite profound. I’ll check out the video later… I’ve been chipping away at understanding myself but I suppose I’ve not been very proactive about becoming myself. Recent years have been better but I’d posit that understanding oneself is a prerequisite in many regards to becoming oneself (if that makes sense). I think we’re becoming all the time, but having a clear understanding of who we are enables us to move forward much more confidently and decisively, whereas from the ages of 23-30 I was very unsure about many things, and so any becoming I was doing was very intrinsic. The key distinction now I think is that now that I’m more confident in who I am I am more prepared to reflect who I am in what I do and the way that I look in a way such that I’m ready, mentally, to be perceived by others differently. The downside of this might be that I’d be shunned in some settings, which is to be expected if I’m not conforming, but the upside is that I’ll be more likely to meet like-minded individuals. I’m not looking for counter-culture, but rather “what works best” I think (although there are many things about our culture that are not ‘what work best’ I am much more concerned with finding my own way and optimizing my own life rather than raging against the machine - I think meeting and talking with others that think differently than the status quo will be key in all of this and thus the post).

> I am much more concerned with finding my own way and optimizing my own life rather than raging against the machine

I can't think of much to add to that; good luck!

(something my fencing master was inordinately fond of doing was asking people questions which could implicitly be taken in multiple ways just to see how they responded [hmmm... dangling a choice might easily have been a déformation professionelle?]; if you don't turn them up more rapidly via other means, that might be useful in sussing out the quieter nonconformists)

> I can't think of much to add to that; good luck!

Sorry, I was trying to point out the difference in what I’m after regarding the comment above re: “counter-culture.” That is, of course, I am interested in interacting with others and improving the world. I just mean that in the first instance, I believe that I need to optimize my own life before I can offer any insight on how to improve the world. If, and, regarding not generally raging against the machine, I mean, I don’t want to be countercultural for the sake of doing so with no other objective in mind.

And great advice on the comment regarding the question. One problem I have, living among Brits, is that I’m extremely literal and these word games tend to not jive well with me as a person that says what I mean.

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