‘Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.’ Albert Einstein
‘The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.’
Albert Einstein
Growing up I enjoyed reading comic books. I cannot tell you how many times I had teachers and adults tell me that I was not really reading, and that my brain would rot away with that garbage. Yet I thought they were the ones whose minds were rotting by not opening their minds to new and imaginative possibilities.
Many did not think I would amount to anything, but they were wrong. I became a teacher and now I meet many different people and students on a daily bases. On one occasion while I was teaching a group of students, the subject matter went towards comics and the movies based on them.
One such movie was about the possibility of different dimensions or universes; they called it the Multiverse. The theory goes that there are an infinite number of universes and in each one, a different version of You. Yet in each universe the You would be slightly different than who You are, or maybe even a totally different version of You.
As I reflected on this notion, it occurred to me that there may be different versions of Me that exist in other peoples minds. A different universe than the one I am familiar with. To some, many may know Me as the quiet person that doesn’t talk much. Some may know Me as the annoying person that won’t stop talking. Some may see Me as cold and mean. Others find Me kind and caring.
At the heart of it, the person I think of as Myself, exists only for Me and even I don’t know who that really is from time to time. Everyone person I meet, have a relationship with, or make eye contact on the street with, creates a version of Me in their heads. I’m not the same person to My mom, My dad, My sibling, My family members then I am to My co-workers, My neighbours or My friends. There are a thousand different versions of Me out there in people’s minds, and I exist in each version, just like the Multiverse.
Yet I, Myself, isn’t really a someone at all to them. I’m not responsible for the version of Me that exists in other people’s minds. There are versions of Me that only exist because other people give them life, and I am not obliged to keep those other versions alive to make other people happy. Good or bad.
The only true version of Me will be the one I choose to be.
Just like the people who thought I would not amount to anything, I ignored them and became a person I can be proud of. I need to ignore the versions of Me that others create. Choosing only the one that I connect with. My real self.
It has been a long journey but I had to first find happiness within, before I could seek it in the outside world. I didn’t and won’t let outside versions of Me define who My true self is inside. Because I AM Me.
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