- Author: Pedro Tellería
- Date: 11/23/25
- Web: PedroTelleria.com
- Theme: Self-help
- Series: Personal-Drivers (article-1)
"Human dignity begins when no one can force you to live as someone else commands." (Liberal Manifesto, 2025, Pedro Tellería)
The first and most fundamental of my personal drivers is a firm commitment to collaborative individualism. Living differently is not a simple act of rebellion or an aesthetic statement, but a continuous commitment to authenticity, critical thinking, and moral and intellectual independence. It means building a genuine existence, rejecting passivity toward the labels and pre-set paths that society—whether through family, culture, trends, or ideologies—offers us every day.
Being different does not mean isolating yourself or rejecting company or collaboration with others but deliberately choosing which aspects of tradition or society you integrate into your personal life and which you leave behind. It means having the courage to ask yourself, before every important decision: “Does this come from my own conviction or is it simply what is expected of me?”
Difference is not superficial: it’s not in clothing, music, or a provocative attitude, but in the root of how and why we act. The real challenge lies in questioning inherited norms when they don’t fit our principles and designing—even at the risk of being wrong—a personal and coherent biography.
Short and Intense Cycles
One of the methods that has contributed most to my growth has been living in short, intense cycles. Life planning cannot be a rigid scheme projected twenty years into the future. I prefer short, ambitious periods: set a challenging goal, commit fully for a stage, and then honestly evaluate what was achieved and, if necessary, change course.
Life is a succession of forks, learnings, and reinventions, not a straight line drawn in advance. I’ve learned that boldness and ambition usually bring better results than conformity or resignation. Daring to close chapters and open new ones is a sign of strength, not instability.
Cycles that pull us away from the Tribe
This view inevitably clashes with the tribal collectivism so widespread in contemporary society. Groups based on nationalism, closed ideologies, racial identities, or urban tribes offer protection and a sense of belonging, but often at the cost of personal freedom.
"The individual has always struggled not to be absorbed by the tribe. If you try, you will often be alone, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." (Rudyard Kipling)
When loyalty to the group outweighs truth or independent thinking, the slavery of conformity emerges.
Groucho Marx captured it brilliantly: “I would never want to belong to a club that would accept someone like me as a member.” The pressure to fit in is powerful, but the price of not being yourself always ends up being higher than the price of temporary solitude.
Walk Lightly
History shows that progress and social transformations usually come from those who dared to be different and challenge the dominant current.
Dissent and nonconformity have opened paths where others only saw barriers. As Kurt Cobain said: “They laugh at me because I’m different, but I laugh because they’re all the same.”
When you step out, you give more back
Throughout my life I’ve found that difference—far from being an obstacle—is a source of inner richness and creativity.
Thinking and living originally requires courage, but it opens nuances and opportunities that those who follow the current will never know. That’s why my first vital driver is this: be different, live my own life, and defend the right—and the duty—to think and act according to my own values. Because only those who dare to stand apart can contribute something genuine and valuable to the world.
- Pedro Tellería