♦
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. There was a lot of hard work involved in my weekend, but I did it with a smile on my face (okay, I didn’t wear a smile the entire time), because I was cleaning up my new house and getting it ready for us to move in, after the last of the renovations were done. I can’t wait to move and settle in my new home. It’s been a long hard road.
Anyway, a friend and brilliant blogger we’ll call Mrs. AOK is hosting a very cool Link-Up Party on her blog, Mrs. AOK, A Work In Progress, called That’s What She Said . . . where she shares a quote with us and we write a post inspired by the quote and then share it at the party. It’s a very cool idea. 😀
♦
Mrs. AOK:
Join us each week as we provide you with a quote (by a woman); and you let that quote inspire your written word! Allow it to lead your writing in whatever way works for you. And we mean that! Literally, wherever it leads you to write is wonderful, and perfect, and worthy of sharing! Share, share, share! Let yourself be inspired each week at That’s What She Said! Write on!!
#1 rule: Have fun and be creative ♡
Go find out what she said. Check out the other blogs linked up and show them some love.
Don’t hold back! We want to read what you are writing.
Okay, we do ask you to hold back ONLY if you are NOT following the rules. This link-up is for those who are inspired by the quote of the week. Get inspired!
Not a rule but a suggestion… please share That’s What She Said on your social media. Example: Join @Mrs_AOK & @Courtneynoel Tuesday’s for #TWSS a weekly link-up inspired by women’s words.
♦
This week’s quote
♦
When I was very young a teacher that I thought highly of, once told me to imitate the people that I admired. Of course, I took this literally and began mimicking her every move. After she stopped laughing, she explained what she meant, and till this day I believe this was sound advice.
That said, there’s a difference between imitation and mindless devotion. My teacher was talking about imitating character traits for your personal improvement. She was referring to being attracted to qualities that an admirable person has that you’d like to polish up within yourself, admiring in that person what you want to do or be more of yourself. It’s likely that you’re attracted to your role models precisely because they have qualities that you harbor undernourished within yourself and seeing the prominent display of these qualities in action in another sparks your desire to do the same.
As younsters we imitate others anyway. Sometimes knowingly and other times subconsciously. As kids we imitate our parents, teachers, classmates, and even cartoon characters on television. I was a wise-cracking kid partly because of Bart Simpson.
We read books, magazines, and newspapers. We watch television. We use the Internet. We observe people to see how they dress, how they walk, how they talk, how they interact, and much more.
A great way to learn is through imitation. It is a great learning technique. As babies we learned how to do everything by imitating others. Later in life we became embarrassed at the thought of imitation, although we do it all the time.
Handpick the quality of a person you admire. If you admire the general demeanor of a person, or wish that you could be disciplined like her, speak like her or carry yourself like her, start observing that person carefully. Mimics do this very effectively. Notice how they get the speech pattern, the idiosyncrasies and the finest nuances of a person down to a tee.
Imitation is a great tool for learning how to develop your own awesome character traits, so that you can develop into the best you possible. Do not confuse imitating others with lack of thinking for yourself. Imitating a person does not imply that you lose your individuality or that you become a stalker. Rather, it means observing individuals you admire so that you may learn something valuable.
You can only be your own idol when you grow and develop into a person you admire. Until then, expend as much energy as you need working on your life and imitating the people you admire, whether that be Jesus Christ, Budha, Martin Luther King Jr., Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie, Hillary Clinton, Condoleeza Rice, Stephen Hawking, Helen Mirren, Xi Jinping, Barack Obama, Dalai Lama, Malala Yousafzai . . .
♦
Do you believe that it’s a waste of time to imitate the people that you admire? Is it a good idea for very young people to aspire to be like people who have proven throughout their lives to be amazing? Who do you aspire to be like?
My grandfather used to say the same thing. It was good advice then, and it’s good advice now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your grandfather was a very wise man. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes. But it’s very difficult for some people. Even being comfortable in one’s own skin can be hard for some, but it’s a start.
LikeLike
I think that if a person is uncomfortable in their own skin then they should look to others they admire to help them gain self-esteem and confidence to be comfortable in their skin. Learning to become a better person by imitating admirable traits from a person they admire could help them become better in their own eyes. 🙂
LikeLike
Great blog Vashti. In life sometimes we get so caught up admiring other people’s beauty and success that we forget to admire all the wonderful things about ourselves. X
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re right. We first have to work on ourselves and then we should admire all the hard work we did to become the person we became. 😉 xx
LikeLike
Great post. I aspire to be the best me I can be. I believe we never stop learning. I store away the good things and discard the bad. xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Francine. I agree that we never stop learning and we can always better ourselves. You’re doing everything right. 🙂 xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
I knew you’d nail this quote!! I’m so happy you joined Courtney and I!!!
“Imitate the people that I admire”- I have heard this too, and I agree. I think you can see what you want through someone else, but you must challenge yourself to make it your own. Inspiration is nice, it helps us to aspire to do things. Being inspired or admiring is just fine, but when we focus solely on someone else’s life, it’s a problem.
Wonderful post, Vashti!!
Thanks again for joining us!
XOXO
LikeLike
Thank you very much! It was a pleasure joining you guys. I agree, focusing on someone else’s life is basically stalking. That’s totally different from selecting a quality you like about someone you admire and applying it to yourself. I enjoyed writing this post. Thanks for the invitation. 😀 xx
LikeLike
I think some people have stalkerish tendencies, via social media. I’m not saying Single White Female (just aged myself there), but the focus is there to be that person they “admire”. I totally agree with you there is nothing wrong with liking a quality and applying it to your life. Guilty! 🙂
XOXO
LikeLike
Hi Vashti! I’ve been concentrating on my writing and reading your post reminds me I should check in on my favourite bloggers more than once every three months!
Great inspirational post which I really enjoyed reading. Thank you! :))
LikeLike
I Teagan! I’ve missed you! Aww. Thank you for the kind words. I’m happy you enjoyed the post. Don’t worry, I know what it’s like to go into writing-mode. I may have to do that soon to finish my fantasy angels series. I’m glad to hear from you. 😀 xx
LikeLike
This is a great article. I think that the only time people should look up to others in being their idols as a way to help “mold” their lives should only be if they don’t know where to start. There is a fine line though. Too many people obsess with following others to dictate how their lives should be. They should learn to look within and see that flame that is already inside them. Even when life throws a bucket of water on it, it still smolders. 🙂
LikeLike
You’re right––everything in moderation. This is about bettering yourself by imitating good traits from great people. This is not about morphing into someone you’re not, stalking, or losing yourself. 🙂 I love the last line you wrote, ‘Even when life throws a bucket of water on it, it still smolders.’ Beautiful. 😀
LikeLike
I never thought of imitation as a great learning technique!! But I agree after reading your post! Thank you for joining Dean and I at this weeks That’s What She Said link up. I always love seeing peoples different viewpoints; it is a great way to learn about others and yourself. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and viewpoints with us. It means so much!!
LikeLike
Hello Courtney! It was a pleasure joining you guys. I had a good time writing this post, so I’m very happy you enjoyed it. 🙂
LikeLike
Through the old sports world, I learned a lot of lessons about imitation and following others. At some point, I was parroting my off of my heroes. Starting off, it is a good idea. As you said, you pick off the good traits that you want. Then I had to compete against them. Hero worship will not take you anywhere.
Now it is about being inspired by others. Feeding off their positives.
On a different matter…congrats on the move! Moving is always draining but a new house sounds grand!
Have a good week! I will be inspired by my early role model…Ralph Wiggum.
I’m learnding!
LikeLike
Hi Steve! You’re right, hero-worship gets you nowhere. Learning from your hero’s good traits and you’ll go far.
We bought a house that needed some work done. The renovations took forever. Not because there was so much work to be done, but because for every little thing we needed to do, we had to get a permit, and of course we wanted to do things right. Waiting on permits delayed the process so much, and then the workers would find other work while we waited on permits, so when we finally got the permit we had to wait for the workers to finish whatever jobs they were working on. It’s been a long, hard road. Phew! We’ll be moving in, hopefully, by the end of the week. 🙂 I can’t wait!
LikeLike
My girlfriend is from Brazil and it is interesting to compare different countries to the U.S. She thought of adding a second story onto her house and it was only a matter of hiring the local guys who did homework and voila! A new addition to the home. Then again, if something bad happens weather wise around the globe…well, you see the difference. Thousands die instead of a handful. Well, there has to be a happy medium I guess to over regulation and safety as compared to speed and efficiency.
Glad your hassles are ending!
LikeLike