Surrendering Originality

The Part I Didn't Say on Tuesday

Earlier this week, I wrote The Tyranny of Originality, a piece about how the pressure to stand out is quietly making us all the same. What I didn’t say is how often I fail to practice what I just preached. Especially when I said:

Originality doesn’t flow from self expression but from self surrender.

I believed that line when I wrote it, but I didn’t realize how much it would turn back on me.

That sentence exposed more than I expected.

I didn’t see it coming.

It is easy to write about surrender. It’s harder to talk about how I blow it.

So, today I want to tell the truth behind that line. And the truth is simple.

I have spent much of my life trying very hard to be original.

What follows is where this idea stops being theoretical and starts being personal.

If you’re a paid subscriber, thank you for walking with me into the harder, more honest work.