Be Unique
In a world where you can be anything you want, be yourself! I know we’ve heard this time and time again, but it’s always worth repeating. We forget sometimes that this life is ours, that no one else can live it for us, and that who we are and what we do really does matter. Our every day actions and routines, our habits, our contributions, we all have more to offer than we give ourselves credit for. If you ask those closest to you though, they could name a whole laundry list of ways you’ve enriched their lives.
Personal branding, we all have it. Things that make people think of us even when we’re absent. You ever see someone with the same sneakers your best friend always wears and you automatically think of them? Or walk past a man in the grocery store and his cologne reminds you of your dad? There are tons of unique details that make up each of us, and you should embrace those little things that all add up to create the wonderful human that is you.
There is no other you. People need to be reminded of this more often than you might think, because sometimes, we feel small. Like that one soda can we recycle can’t possibly make a difference. How our reusable shopping bags seem insignificant when you walk out with someone who has a dozen plastic ones in the next cart over. How your job could be replaced by someone who would gladly take a lesser wage.
That all may sound trivial when looking at the bigger picture, but you don’t need to change the whole world to be a valuable addition to it. The little things you do daily, they matter. The dreams you chase, they’re important. The goals you made for yourself, no one else is going to wake up today and crush those for you!
If you don’t believe me, imagine a world where you didn’t exist. How many people’s lives would be effected by this? Your parents, your children, your best friend, even your pets. The contributions you’ve made along the way, the feedback you’ve provided that became important additions to your school or work environments, the positive energy you’ve funneled into your loved ones when they needed you.
Imagine this, you meet a stranger one day, they talk just like you, look just like you, but it’s not you. It’s the highest, best version of you, but you didn’t become them because you didn’t believe in yourself, you didn’t chase your dreams, you didn’t see your own potential. You were afraid to take a leap of faith on yourself, but how many times have you taken a leap of faith on someone else though? Why not have that same energy for you? Why not wake up and decide to be that person, instead of looking at yourself in the mirror a decade from now, wishing you’d done it, wishing you trusted your gut enough to change your own life.
We live lives that can be drastically changed in a matter of months, days, minutes. A life that is so full of potential, that sometimes it intimidates us. You know what’s really intimidating though, being disappointed in ourselves, worrying that our loved ones are disappointed in us. Wake up and make them proud. Hell, make yourself proud!
We like to look at other people as awe-inspiring and superior when they seem to have accomplished more than we have, but the reality is, a lot of those people look at you in the same light. The lawyer who sits behind his desk every night until 9PM instead of having dinner with his family, he’s sometimes jealous of your 9-5 and quality time at home. The single mom who would do anything for her children that you see as the toughest woman in the world, she’d occasionally appreciate the solitude you get from being kidless in your 30’s. The war hero who lost his leg overseas, you admire and respect him, and he sometimes envies your capabilities.
No one person is any more significant than the next, just like no one person is any less significant than the next. We’re all here to co-exist, to learn from each other, to learn from the world we live in and the planet that helps us thrive. At Kastral, we strive to design quality products that are durable and different. We want to learn from others in the industry, we want others to learn from us, and most importantly, we want to collaborate with like-minded people to provide our world with exceptional products that inspire others to feel one of a kind, as they should.
I guess what we’re trying to say here, is we want you, just the way you are! We want to invite others to join us on our journey of endlessly evolving, striving to be better than we were yesterday, last week, last year. This world is constantly growing around us, and we want to grow with it, and do as little damage as possible, which is why our manufacturing focuses on lessening the impact on our environment.
By collaborating with others, we can build a close-knit community where we can channel our positive energy, help others grow, and build lifelong partnerships. Thinking outside the box is our specialty, and we love to pick the brains of others who enjoy letting their imaginations run wild. There’s no greater feeling than working alongside people who allow and encourage creative freedom. Although working with open minds sometimes causes difference in opinion, all opinions are valued and taken into consideration. What seems appealing to one may not to another, but that’s why we embrace new creators!
By allowing creative freedom, it allows us to expand into territories we never imagined possible, because maybe it wasn’t exactly up our alley, but it was never really an alley, more like a tree, with branches, lots of them, stretching out in every direction, reaching new people and new challenges, and who doesn’t love a challenge?
