Anyone Else But Me

You will make a lousy anybody else, but you will be the best ‘you’ in existence.”

Zig Ziglar

Many of us daydream or fantasize about being someone else. Did you ever look at someone else’s life and wish that you could have their physique, home, money, car or job? I think at some point in life, maybe we have all entertained thoughts about being someone different or having something that we did not already own.

Some of us may have only had a fleeting moment of daydreaming or fantasizing about this. Others of us may spend way too much time coveting what others have. A few of us may even become consumed with an imaginary life lived as someone else. We drift away, wanting to be anyone else but ourselves, or trade what we have for what other people have.

When I was a kid, we vacationed at the Jersey Shore. It was typically in a very small bungalow with lots of other family members and friends popping in and out during the week. It was cramped, usually just one bathroom, and people sleeping on every bed, couch, cot and surface area of the tiny house. I look back on those weeks with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins and remember them as some of the best vacations of my life. But at the time, I also remember wishing I could be going on the vacations that my friends were going on. Even if they came to the same area, they were staying at a much bigger home or nice hotel.

Did I mention that they had air conditioning in those nicer homes and hotel rooms? Yes, not only did I want to be my friends, but I wanted their air conditioning too. I think “Thou shalt not covet your friend’s air conditioning” may even be a commandment. Still, looking back on it today, I wouldn’t have traded it for the world…

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