Challenge - Unique

Unique - Be You! Be Yourself! I think we have all been told this a few times in our lives. But I think that even if we WANT to be unique there is always a little of someone else in us. Maybe we are a little like our parents, or grandparents. Or maybe we had a favorite teacher and wanted to grow up and be just like him/her. Or maybe we wanted to grow up and be NOTHING like anyone we knew. Who are YOU? Are you who YOU want to be? Do you want to change? Why? Are you as UNIQUE as you WANT to be?
In this challenge I would like you to make a page
1: about who you see when looking in a mirror

-or-

2: using a quote or poem as inspiration.

-or-

3: about how you think others see you. Are they right or wrong?

Feel free to read through the quotes, poetry, etc, below to use as your inspiration.

Unique - definitions:

1: being the only one : sole 

2:

   a : being without a like or equal : unequaled 

   b : distinctively characteristic : peculiar 

3: unusual

Titles:

1: Be careful. Be kind. Be yourself.
2: Be yourself. Who else is better qualified?
3: I meander to a different drummer.
4: Know thyself!
5: Be You-nique

Quotes:
1: Everyone has a talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads. (Erica Jong)
2: Figuring out who you are is the whole point of the human experience. (Anna Quindlen)
3: I cling to my imperfection, as the very essence of my being. (Anatole France)
4: It is never too late to be what you might have been. (George Eliot)
5: It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not. (Andre Gide)
6: Other people's opinion of you does not have to become your reality. (Les Brown)
7: Saying no can be the ultimate self-care. (Claudia Black)
8: We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. (Anaïs Nin)
9: Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself to others. It is because we are different that each of us is special. Don't set your goals by what other people deem important, only know what is best for you. (Ken Lewis)
10: If both of us were the same, one of us would be unnecessary. (Unknown)
11: It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. (Herman Melville)
12: The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself. (Rita Mae Brown)

There are so many fantastic quotes on this subject. If you would like to explore others than those I have listed, try looking up "quotes unique" or "quotes conformity".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be Yourself by Bruce B. Wilmer

The world would like to change you;
There are pressures all around.
You must decide just who you are,
Then firmly hold your ground.

You have an image of yourself,
An ideal sense of you;
And to this vision you must always
Struggle to be true.

You know what you are good at,
And you know where talents lie;
But if you're ruled by others,
Your uniqueness could pass by.

Remember, there is much to learn;
But all new things aren't good.
Wisdom lies in what we learned,
And what we have withstood.

So, be yourself and don't allow
The world to take control.
Preserving your identity,
Is life's most precious goal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everybody Says by Dorothy Aldis

Everybody says
I look just like my mother.
Everybody says
I'm the image of Aunt Bee.
Everybody says
My nose is like my father's,
But I want to look like me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I found this little tidbit online. I dont know who wrote it, or who it is written about, but I liked it a lot.

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.
"Well," he continued, "what if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants this $20?" Still the hands went into the air.
"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.
"Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value: dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you."
The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE.
You are special. Don't ever forget it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you have fun doing this challenge.

REMEMBER: Art Journaling is not about the beginning or the end. It is all about the process. The Journey!

And if you feel up to it, please share pictures of your art journal pages at our Flickr gallery HERE