{"id":33407,"date":"2017-01-27T12:00:38","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T20:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=33407"},"modified":"2017-01-21T18:16:36","modified_gmt":"2017-01-22T02:16:36","slug":"what-if-you-didnt-want-to-stand-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/27\/what-if-you-didnt-want-to-stand-out\/","title":{"rendered":"What If You Didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Want to Stand Out?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tuyen
Tuyen Quang, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In America and the west (okay, perhaps mostly America) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d we are told from a young age to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stand out\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153be different.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What if we applied a different philosophy? Rather than to stand out, to just be simple and plain? Rather than wearing flashy clothes, to wear more subdued clothes? Rather than having a lot of social media followers, to have a few dedicated followers?<\/p>\n

Why do we want to stand out?<\/h2>\n

\"eric-kim-street-photography-kodak-tri-x-1600-1239\"<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m surprised\u00e2\u20ac\u201d whenever I meet young kids, it seems the #1 most coveted job is to be a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153YouTube celebrity.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

In America, we worship celebrities and idols. Entertainers are the kings and the Gods of American society. We are all addicted to pop culture, to music, to the radio, to TV, to YouTube, to movies, and other forms of entertainment.<\/p>\n

From a young age, I always wanted to stand out. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be like others. I purposefully tried to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153go opposite\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from my peers.<\/p>\n

For example, when all my friends were wearing Nike\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, I opted for Adidas.<\/p>\n

When others used Apple products, I stuck with PC.<\/p>\n

When others listened to mainstream music, I stuck with the underground.<\/p>\n

How to really \u00e2\u20ac\u0153be different\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/h2>\n

\"eric-kim-street-photography-kodak-tri-x-1600-1170\"<\/p>\n

But the problem is that my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153being different\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was very superficial. I was identifying myself and my self-worth and ideology with brands, not with my mode of thinking.<\/p>\n

I feel to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153be different\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153think different\u00e2\u20ac\u009d doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean to look at what everyone is doing, and just doing the opposite thing. Rather, I think it means to totally ignore what others are doing<\/strong>, and just to stick to your own gut. To follow your own soul and conscience. To do what feels right to you, rather than what popular opinion says.<\/p>\n

Change yourself; not others<\/h2>\n

\"eric-kim-street-photography-kodak-tri-x-1600-1306\"<\/p>\n

I feel it also means not to complain about what others are doing, and what the external world is doing.<\/p>\n

You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t change others; but you can change yourself<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So rather than criticizing how others were always on their smartphones; I made it a rule for me to spend less time on my smartphone.<\/p>\n

When I saw others overly-addicted to social media, rather than criticizing them, I worked hard to break my own addiction to social media.<\/p>\n

Rather than criticizing others for not working on their creative products, I just learned to shut up and just to focus on my own work.<\/p>\n

Rather than criticizing other photographers for always wanting new gear, I tried to focus on just being satisfied with the gear I already owned. And to simplify and minimize my life.<\/p>\n

What do you really want to stand out?<\/h2>\n

\"eric-kim-street-photography-kodak-tri-x-1600-1352\"<\/p>\n

You want to stand out\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but not for your clothes, your lifestyle, or your image. You want your exterior to be plain, but your interior to shine.<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let people admire you by the clothes you wear, the car you drive, the home you live in, or the camera you shoot with.<\/p>\n

Rather, let people admire you by your personality, the way you live your life, the creative work that you do, and for your soul.<\/p>\n

Be as ordinary as a rugged stone on the outside; glitter like a jewel on the inside<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Always,
\nEric<\/p>\n

Learn more: articles on Zen ><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In America and the west (okay, perhaps mostly America) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d we are told from a young age to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stand out\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153be different.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_ek_photo_artist_note":"","_ek_photo_thesis":"","_ek_photo_camera":"","_ek_photo_place":"","_ek_photo_human_moment":"","_ek_photo_sequence":"","_ek_photo_question":"","_ek_photo_canonical_claim":"","_ek_photo_ai_summary":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/eric-kim-street-photography-hanoi-color-0000262-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1325&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}