Musings: Do You!
“Imitation is Suicide. Insist on yourself. Never imitate.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Musings: Do You!
What favorite quote do you return to again and again? “Imitation is Suicide. Insist on yourself. Never imitate.” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. A couple of years ago, I added a widget to my blog sidebar with the intention of regularly updating it with a quote I like. It sounded like a wonderful idea; I love quotes and could use the widget to share new ones I found. After a few months of rotating quotes on my blog, I came across the one above by Emerson and used it promptly in a post. Inspiration: To Thine Own Self Be True
I kept coming back to that quote as it spoke to me on many levels. As bloggers, it’s easy to get caught up in the razzle dazzle of other people’s blogging experience and forget why we started blogging in the first place. We forget to look at our own unique journey and find merit in it. In blogland, the road to success demands we create our niche, our path, and be brave and stand by it. There is only one copyblogger, dooce, problogger, or bloggess and all insist on playing to their strengths; to being themselves… Why settle on being an imitation? 😉 More below!
“Every artist was first amateur.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Musings: Do You!
Why does it move you? There was something about the last two sentences in the quote that struck me. When I started blogging, my goal was to write my best original, motivational, point of view posts. Emerson’s message was a reminder to stay true to that original premise – Insist on being You not a decoy. Don’t bother imitating others. Just Do You. ‘Write Your vision’ was what kept surfacing for me and I was sold. As serendipity would have it, Russell Simmons’ book Do You!, on what he termed 12 laws to help us achieve happiness and success, crossed my path and I decided to keep the quote as a permanent fixture on this blog. I left out “Imitation Is Suicide” and kept the rest. it is now a blogging mantra of sorts.
Essentially, it is a reminder to stay focused on my blogging goals; which means being attentive to what my readers love and writing about subjects I enjoy with an original focus… writing to the best of my ability while challenging myself to broaden my appeal and to improve. What about your favorite quote?
Happy New Year! This post was inspired by a prompt from WP Daily Post: Daily Prompt: Quote Me – Do you have a favorite quote that you return to again and again? What is it, and why does it move you?
Positive Motivation Tip: Stay true to your vision and keep on truckin’ ♥HAPPY NEW YEAR!♥ 🙂
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos Birds, Decoy, via Wikipedia or via Flickr!
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
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In my posts, I talk to myself too so, “Do You” includes me… right! TY! 🙂 Love you!
Every snowflake is unique, nothing is identical. Apply that to myself. I am a unique person. Thanks for the motivation, Eliz.
TY too for the feedback… Unique you! 😉
I love your choice of pictures and art that accompany your great posts.
TY Eileen! Long time no see … How are you? TY for the feedback. 🙂
This is a great post, Elizabeth, and one we need to remember.
TY Naomi! It speaks to me too. 😉
Just do you. I like it. I don’t have a favorite quote, but Just Do You might just be the one. 🙂
Now, all you need is your own personal Swoosh.
♥♪♫♪♥* ★*♥♪♫♪♥
Lol
Haha 😆 You are so funny! 😉 TY!
Favorite quote. John F. Kennedy – Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Smart guy. Good prayer.
Yes… great prayer! 😉
My favorite quote is by Rainer Maria Rilke from Letters to a Young Poet – Live the questions, which is all I can usually remember of this beautiful passage:
. . . have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.
You are amazing Karen… always on the pulse of what is on my mind. TY! Got it! 😉
You are very unique, Liz and that’s one of the things I love about your blog (there are a million other things about it I love as well!) 😀
TY Dianne and so are you! I haven’t been a round for a while but will catch up… TY for your kindness. 😉
You are a strong woman, Elizabeth. You know who “you” are. Me too. I think people who imitate are still searching… Sometimes, I have doubts and search too, but then I go home to who I find myself most comfortable with… 😉
I think we all are searching and it is easy to get caught up in other people’s stuff… I give myself the reminder because it is OK to do YOU! There is no law that says we have be A or Z…. TY Karen… 😉
I’m currently reading past posts on my blog and remembering why I started it. It is very me.
Nice one Eliz.
Good for you… and when I get discouraged, I ask myself the same question: Why did you start doing this? Then I move forward… TY! 🙂
“Could be worse…could be raining.” Young Frankenstein
Aye… so true! 🙂 TY!
Excellent points.
I have two favourite quotes. Picasso: ‘Inspiration comes, but it has to find you working’ and G K Chesterton: ‘There is no such thing as an uniteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person.’ So if no-one likes what I write that’s fine by me, I’m using the blogging process as ‘work’ to gain some inspiration, and obviously, according to GKC, it’s just about a subject that doesn’t interest the reader 😉
Good for you and it is important to stay true to who we are… Not get carried away by every wind and song and dance… 😆 TY!
RWE said eloquently what I have always said to my boys: don’t be the next [insert famous name]; be the first [their names].
Exactly! WE have to be true to self… and leave the rest. 🙂
Excellent post… 🙂
“My superficiality isn’t rooted so deep”
– that’s my main quote of life, and always been number one … 🙂
I love it!!!! Conjures all sorts of memories. 😉
How wonderful! I don’t think I have a preferred quote. When we were children and argued my father would have us repeat from the Bible..a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pitchers of silver. That one does stick with me and reminds me of the power of our words. Although it can be quickly forgotten in the heat of the moment!
I hear you… and that your dad made you say it is so cool! 😉
I’m not sure about having a favourite quote, because I’m not sure I do, but I certainly believe in finding your own voice. This takes time, but its a very enjoyable journey
Indeed! And once we find it, we must be fierce about keeping it… naysayers abound. 😆
It’s funny that when I started blogging I hadn’t read many. Actually only The Pioneer Woman, and when she got her book deal I thought…hmmm. I had no intention of imitating her blog, just an aspiration to establish my own story for my own book. Even that changed and evolved.
As most of us who blog do I began reading lots of other blogs. Over time I’ve stopped reading quite a few because they were all so alike. I know the cream rises to the top, but imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery in my opinion. I love your quote. and I love your blog because it is like no other.
b
TY Barb! I always come back to you and Vivian when I need a reality check… I remember well when this was just an occasional spot and today I am grateful for the connections and for the steady friendships too… TY! Love your blog always. 🙂
You have the knack with meaningful words Eliz . We would all do well to take note of them and just be ourselves .Thank you.
TY Poppytump! I say it to me too… I’m learning. 😉
It’s an excellent quote, and you have with this blog managed to live up to its words. Happy New Year, Elizabeth!
Munchow now that is a great gift to hear from you… as I admire what you do so successfully. TY! 🙂 HNY to you too! 🙂
“When You Think You Are At Your End… Just Be Patient
… And The Tide Will Turn”… and
“DO NOT MAKE SIMPLE THINGS COMPLICATED”…
Well said Marilyn… and being human we always find ways to complicate. 😉 TY! 😆
Thank you so much for sharing your insights!
TY for being so patient in my quiet! 🙂
Great post! There are so many quotes that are wonderful but one of my favorites is, “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance” by Oscar Wilde
Yes… I like that quote… Oscar for an Oscar! 🙂 TY!
Love love this post! 🙂
TY so much and I will be by. 🙂
Great advice from someone who knows blogging like no other. “Do You”–great advice for not just blogging, but everything. I’m going to tell my kids to “do you” when they ask me how to dance or play basketball or paint or sing. Thank you for this wise advice, Eliz.
TY Kozo! Good thing. I bet they’ll love that you don’t expect them to Do You! 🙂