Our innate desire to fit in has had survival advantages for our species.  When humans depended on the safety of the tribe to get their needs met for food, shelter and safety, conformity to the tribe's norms was essential.  Nobody wanted to be kicked out – it was almost certainly death sentence.

The same is no longer true.  I challenge that currently our conformity is suffocating our souls.  From standardization of tests in school, to the industrialization of the workforce, to beauty standards, conformity that once served us is no longer working.

At this point conformity = boring.  If we're all the same, how do you contribute to the world?  If every job applicant is comparable, safe, and plain, how do you pick who to hire?  If we all looked the same, how would we tell each other apart?  There are known advantages to biological diversity for the survival of the species.

Choose to stop being boring.  The world tells us that it's the way to win, and it's not.  The world needs you to be you in all of your fantastic glory.  It's the things that make you different that make you wonderful. 

Still need convincing?  Read Sally Hogshead's How the World Sees You.  You won't be disappointed.