on being the best you

i've been hearing a lot of talk lately about being yourself. and it seems that mostly what's said is, "i'm not going to change who i am just for another person." i am a large believer in being yourself and loving yourself the way God intended you to be, deriving joy from the thrilling happiness of it.  but i've began to look at it both ways.  because i've been on the other side of it, and i think that there's more to our stories than that.  what i mean to say, is that I think there is a difference between "changing who you are" and not living to be the absolute best version of yourself.  no matter and no amount of standard changing situations and moral dilemmas that happen because of people or because of life's circumstances, should dictate that we change the way we live, for worse.  but i think that when it comes to our own shortcomings, there is no reason that we shouldn't try our hardest to turn them into strengths.  from the girl that lost herself in the excuse of of being an introvert and blamed her short comings on "just the way she was", there came an incredible amount of pure joy from learning to turn weaknesses into strengths and realizing that while she still might have had a certain personality, that was no pretense for hiding behind it.  and that girl could not have been more terrified of pushing the mold and reshaping it into something new, but that was no excuse.  it took time and it took tears, but there is no more greater satisfaction and delight than having done it all and triumphed. and she can gladly say that she is who she is, and she became better than she thought she was.