Recently, I published our (Ron’s and mine) definition for Peace of Mind. One of the commenter's agreed with the general principles of the definition, but this individual had their own ideas also. My reply was “That is wonderful, we are different.” Another commenter said, “thought provoking it did not fit the definition of ‘me.” They were glad that "our ideals were flexible."
I replied,: “this explains why we our passion is branding. We have learned that every living being is distinctly different, and we love emphasizing that distinct difference in a brand. And we all have a common way of communicating which helps us to be friends and appreciate the differences.”
This exchange of comments has inspired this post. Most people find it hard to understand the concept of brand and branding strategy. Perhaps, it is because we are born branded as “boy” or “girl”. We are given names, first, middle, and last name. Some of us don’t have middle names. All brands have names. There are brand colors for both sexes. We are given religions to follow by our parents, and we are given nationalities also. We are also influenced by parental wishes such as “following in their mother’s/or father’s footsteps.”
Scholastically, we are branded. There are personality tests, Intelligence tests, Aptitude tests, and all types of other tests to determine who we are and who we should be. At some point, we may wake up and try to find the “me” in all this, or we may be content that the “me” has been perfectly branded by our parents, as well as all the outside influences (schools, religions, peer pressure, etc.).
My aha moment came at an early age. My parents recalled a time when entertaining their friends, I was sitting listening to the conversation. One of their friends said, “she is definitely French”, whereas another disagreed and said, “No, she is Russian”, and the third friend said, “she was born in Lebanon, and that makes her Lebanese!” According to my father, I screamed, “NO, I am ME!”
From that moment as I continued my discovery process of “me”. I was both a thorn in my parents’ side as well as a source of pride.