The Art of Being Yourself in a World That’s Always Performing

There’s a SpongeBob episode (yes, SpongeBob; we’re going there) called Living Like Larry. It’s about Larry the Lobster, the buff guy at the beach who thinks life’s meaning is measured in pushups and motorcycle stunts. His motto? “Live life to the fullest!”
 
SpongeBob, being SpongeBob, decides he’s been doing life wrong: too quiet, too careful, too spongy. So, he and Patrick try to “live like Larry.” Within minutes, chaos reigns. There’s a catapult. Possibly a near-death experience. They end up in the hospital, looking like leftovers from a seafood platter. Larry visits, sees the wreckage, and admits, “Maybe I should tone it down.”
 
Now, it’s both hilarious and painfully true. Because most of us, at one point or another, have tried to live like Larry. You see a post captioned “Living my best life!” and think maybe I should be paddleboarding in Greece instead of scrolling through my social media in my pajamas. You hear about someone who wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to do yoga, journal, and save endangered lemurs before breakfast, and you feel inadequate because you just had a Pop-Tart. That’s the Larry effect.
 
But here’s what SpongeBob forgot: he was already happy before he started chasing someone else’s life. He loved his jelly fishing, his Krabby Patties, his friends. It wasn’t until he started comparing himself to Larry that things went sideways.
 
At Viz, we see this play out every day in more subtle ways. A student feels she has to be the loudest leader to be respected. Another worries she’s not “involved enough” because she prefers quiet art studio mornings to big assemblies. But our tradition, the Salesian way, reminds us that holiness isn’t about spectacle. It’s about sincerity. It’s not about maximizing every moment; it’s about being fully present in it.
 
Our foundress, St. Jane de Chantal, who would be celebrating her 454th birthday this month, didn’t live like Larry. She lived like Jane. She did ordinary things with extraordinary love. She didn’t need to climb a mountain to find God; she found Him in daily life, in friendship, in fidelity. That’s what we try to model at Viz: a culture where joy isn’t loud, but real.
 
So, the next time you feel pressure to “live like Larry,” pause and ask: Is Larry happy, or just tired and full of protein powder? The real challenge isn’t to live louder. It’s to live truer, like SpongeBob. Or better yet, like you. And if anyone tries to knock that, just remember what my dad used to say (edited for school use): “There are difficult people everywhere. Don’t let them rent space in your head.”