Whats new (copy) cat....?

Ladies we have all had that friend inhigh school, you know, the one who loved your Tammy Girl dress so much and thenturned up the next day wearing the exact same one, she was the girl who fanciedthe boy you did and had no shame in getting in there first to kiss him, whilstwearing your favorite lip balm.  Shestopped eating meat when you made the choice to be vegetarian despite hatingall vegetables and she painted her room pink when you did (complete withmatching New Kids on the Block poster!) Now dealing with a copycat friend whenyou are twelve is difficult, so how do you do it as an adult? Yep, sadly ladiesthe end of our teenage years does not necessarily mean the end of the copy cat girl.

The old proverb teaches us thatimitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but feeling like someone has stolenyour identity can be annoying and frustrating. Of course we all think,and are actively encouraged to be, unique and original. Yet while this is true,there are always going to be other people who share our interests, ideals and ideas.In fact some of our greatest relationships are built on common interests; I metone of my loveliest, closest friends bonding over a mutual love of Jo Malone ona hen weekend. And of course we met people who inspire us, expose us to thingswe had not previously seen and this does change and shape who we are.  The point is, there’s a line between merelyusing someone as a life style inspiration, and going all single-white-female. Youknow she’s bordering on full-blown clone when she has adopted not only yourblog style, she has no shame in spouting off your opinions and passions as ifthey were her own, she copies your hash tags on Twitter and suddenly become ayoga-enthusiast overnight as well as trying to give ill informed advice on yourareas of specialism and adopts your life philosophy as her own. If this soundsfamiliar, sorry to say ladies, you have single white female on your hands.

The awkward part is when friends andfamily start to notice that you have a permanent shadow who is copying you. Howdo you explain it? It takes a while to notice yourself as no one is that egotisticalto think they have a stalker/copycat issue initially. But slowly and surely theevidence builds up so you even deny it to yourself.You could try to take this as an opportunity to change things is your own life,to try new looks or style choices, to find other interests, to create a newadventure or to experiment with new life philosophies.   If shestarts to copy these, it is a definite that you have indeed picked yourself upa full-fledged copycat.

The real frustration comes from thatdespite dropping a million and one hints the copycat just doesn’t seem to getit! You can try being blunt with her and yet she appears incapable of findingher own set of thoughts and opinions. Obviously you could just try and acceptthe fact that you clearly have such amazing, taste and style, that someonewants to be exactly like you whilst keeping your fingers crossed the copycatwill eventually grow bored of you and start picking up inspiration elsewhere,just keep your fingers crossed she doesn’t move on to your bestie for her next inspirationfix!

At the end of the day I am not one oflifes haters and I try to never look back in anger, I believe in karma, what you give is what you get returned. I truly wish people only happiness in their lives. I know a copycatcan't help being a copycat. She might have low self-esteem, have problemstrusting her own instincts, or has maybe grown up being a sheep,and is still to find who she is.  Whateverthe case, it's difficult to have any respect for a person who depends on youand your ideas to shape who she is and her life. So, for me, whilstyou can copyright your blog (mine is!) it is a shame you can’t copyright yourlife to. So for me it is time to pull the plug on this copy machineand let this chapter close……..xX