“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.”

I’m not one to dabble in high fashion, but I can certainly appreciate the sentiment expressed by Coco Chanel in the quote above. It’s also a sentiment that I have approached before on this blog, but it is very much worth revisiting.

In today’s capitalistic society, particularly among Western nations, we are provided with a contradictory set of implicit instructions. On the one hand, we are told to conform. We should be like everyone else so that we can fit in and be popular. We yearn for that sense of belonging. On the other hand, we are told to be different. We are told to strive for success, being better than those around us in some way. We want to thrive.

And therein lies the internal struggle. To make matters even more complicated, we want popularity and fame, but it’s so much easier to blend. It’s so much easier to be a wallflower and just be like everyone else. That’s because we fear ridicule. We fear being judged and we fear standing out in a negative way. For every monumental success, there are dozens of monumental failures. Being unconventional can shoot you into either extreme.

But as Chanel so eloquently put it above, the only way that you can be truly irreplaceable is to be different. If you’re like anyone else, then you are like everyone else. There is no threat of you walking away from the situation, because “they” can always turn to the next person in line. You’re a dime a dozen. That’s when you have to ask yourself whether want to be normal. Do you really want to have mediocrity as your goal?

Nobody wants to embarrass themselves. Nobody wants to be the target of ridicule and shame. However, the only way that you can rise to the top is to risk falling to the bottom. Dare to be irreplaceable. Always.