‘Just be yourself,’ they say.

He thinks it’s a load of crap, but people are too busy being trying their best to be inspired by that damned quote to agree with him.

Which self are they talking about? Because he has many to offer.

The him at work: the perfect salaryman, helpful, focused and just the right side of driven. The him with friends: helplessly, charmingly over-the-top. The him with family: the him of years past, like 8-minute-late sunlight, because what mother ever stops thinking of you as that 8-year-old who sobbed when Bambi’s mother died?

There is no him-him, not the sort that ‘just be yourself’ is looking for anyway – all he has is a menu of various ’him’s for the different social needs, bits of a person(ality) like the toppings you mix and match at a sandwich store.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts – Aristotle

Huh.