I heart unicorns

The little boy who loved unicorns
I love unicorns. If they existed in real life, you can bet your sweet spleen that I’d do everything I could to own one. I’d want a white one with a long mane and a freakishly sharp horn. (Of course, I’d want someone else to clean up after him, especially after reading this information at the Oatmeal.)

When I was in elementary school, I would spend most of my time drawing unicorns or other fanciful creatures. I had an elaborate imagination and could picture a world where these creatures existed and I along with them.

Everyone knew that I loved unicorns.

That crap had to stop
Little boys aren’t “supposed” to fall in love with magical horses with horns on their head. Alas, it is a forbidden love.

And so, my classmates made it fairly clear that my unicorn love had to end. At the very least, it needed to be kept quiet.

I’d like to say that I put up the good fight. I’d like to say that despite years of opposition I became a unicorn aficionado, that I pioneered the way for acceptance of little boys who love unicorns.

That did not happen!

You can only take so many years of being called names before you start wondering if something is wrong with you. At that time in my life, I cared what others thought and you can bet that I cared deeply! Tragically, I cared more about what they thought than I did for those magical creatures I was drawing.

And so the unicorns had to die.

What have you let die
Hopefully you realized I’m being a bit melodramatic about the unicorns, but the fact remains I did indeed stop talking about them because of how other people responded.

Unfortunately, the unicorns have been the least of things in my life that I have dropped because of what others have said. As I look back over my life, there have been too many things that I have let others have control of. Things that made me unique.

By removing them, I started removing myself.

You are your own secret formula
Just like the recipe for Coke, you are a unique formula. No one can duplicate you or reproduce you. But if you let others dictate what you do and what you like, you start tearing that formula apart.

I’ve yet to meet one person who has not given up some part of themselves at some point in their lives because of what others have said.

We should consider that tragic!

I love unicorns again
I’m older now and I don’t care quite so much what people have to say about my obsession with unicorns. In fact, the guys that I work with find it hilarious when I go on and on about it. Not in the “you’re freaking me out” way, but in the “you say the funniest $#it way”. (That last part was a direct quote from a co-worker.)

Granted, it helps that I’m the dad to two little girls.

There are a lot of bizarre combinations to my personality:

• I hate sports. Not a burning and consuming hate where I talk bad about them, just a hate that makes me miserable to sit through them. Sorry, sports fans. (And no, being 6’5″ does NOT mean that I’m good at basketball.)
• I love fashion and design and did some runway modeling in my 20′s. I also love shopping. I’d rather go to the mall than endure a single minute of a football game. (Yes. For real.)
• Yard work is another area that I will avoid like the plague. The idea of being covered in sweat and grass clippings seriously makes me want to hyperventilate. Not even the thought of a well manicured lawn is enough to make me want to step outside; I mow only to spare my wife from that chore.
• At the same time I do love camping! The idea of sleeping in a tent outside makes me happy. The bugs and plant life there doesn’t bother me at all, unlike those in my yard back at home.
• I desperately want a giant, red pickup truck with a 15 inch lift kit, roll bar, KC lights, and flames down the sides of it. (I do live in Texas.)
• Oh, and I have a freakish love of all things Sanrio. (Being a dad of two little girls has most certainly come in handy on this one!)

If for one moment you think I haven’t taken my fair share of crap for that combination of interests, you are dead wrong. I can assure you that I have been called every name you can think of at some point in my life. Thankfully, as I get older I find that I don’t mind it so much. Though it might be why I have developed a bit of an aggressive personality in the “real world”.

Who cares if I want a giant pickup truck and love Hello Kitty at the same time. That stylish cat has to get around somehow!

Why it matters
I think this matters because it makes me unique. (You might argue VERY unique, but work with me here.)

My goal is to pour myself into whatever it is that I am doing. I can’t do that if I’ve let others dictate what I am. You may not think there is much benefit to me liking fashion and KC lights, but if I’m not honest with those things that are part of me, you can’t trust me for anything.

The same goes for you. You can’t be who you are meant to be while hiding those things about you that make you unique.

What you are hiding (or have hid) because of what other people have said?