I don’t see anything valuable in “being oneself”. The reason is simple: it is mainstream, it is a commonplace, it is a good of high demand, there is no quality in it. I understand that “being oneself” holds the idea of simplicity and uniqueness at the same time: be yourself and it will let you stand out. It is nonsense to my mind, because real, true simplicity is bloody difficult to come to, and uniqueness is hardly possible to achieve on a universal recipe. You can’t write “Eugene Onegin” without writing Onegin stanza.

Leave this “being yourself” not to be lost in an endless crowd of those who wish to cheaply buy expensive goods. Be more complex, deeper, more interesting. Turn round and go the opposite side. Pretend. Be ingenious, artistic, different. Play yourself.