What having an identical twin taught me about individuality

Having a twin is the best! I’m not even going to downplay it for you. I wish everyone had a supportive BFF who sounded just like them. It goes without saying that we had our fair share of twin questions and comparisons. In an attempt to tell us apart and respect our individuality, people always ended up saying things like, “Oh yeah, your forehead is a lot bigger” or “Your eyes are different.” Turns out the best way to not give a sh*t about what people think of your physical appearance is to be a twin and be under constant scrutiny.

But all scrutiny aside, having a twin gave me a deep-seated belief that each person has something magical to bring to the world. We have the same DNA and yet, so many interesting differences. Societal pressures cause us all to clam up, rather early I might add, and slowly patch over the parts of us that make us feel the most us. 

So I’m here to tell you to let your freak flag fly, even if your version of freak is puzzles on a weekend, binging true crime podcasts, watching chess tutorials after work, or not liking romantic comedies. 

What I’m saying is, there’s this assumption that counter-culture means extreme, intense, in-your-face, and while of course it can be, it can also be hating music festivals, enjoying early mornings, and being nice to one another. If your 100% authentic you loves PSL and buffalo plaid, you get on that basic sh*t. Whatever it is that makes you feel the most you, that’s what you should be doing, eating, reading, pursuing, making, hearing, imagining. Life is too short not to.

In order to strip away this societal pressure though, we have to turn into ourselves and explore. The CliftonStrengths is just one tool to do this, but boy do I love it! You gain language and clarity around your lens on the world. It doesn’t tell you specific things you’re good at, instead it gives you a framework for understanding the way you approach problem solving. It informs when you feel most engaged, applicable across work and personal life (which, can we just agree it’s all slices of the same pie?).

We are all amazing because of our differences, not in spite of them. Now it’s your job to find out what makes you, you and start screaming it from the rooftops. One of my favorite parts of coaching is seeing people embracing and embodying everything that makes their heart shine. So bring your big foreheads and scary faces to me. Let’s talk about how you can start to live your life in a way that reflects who you truly are and want to be.