We need only to consider our own experience to grasp how startling our Lord's assertion really is. Think of yourself as a supervisor, parent, a teacher, a bishop, a spouse or priest. On the contrary, we want them to realize their own gifts, not become clones of ourselves. He says this to every human who has ever lived, who lives now, and who will live in the future. The harder we try to be ourselves without Him, the less we can really become ourselves.
Some people seem to think that Christian faith involves the suppression of the human.
Once you accept the Gospel, they say, your freedom to be yourself is constrained and your ability to explore the many possibilities that life offers is frustrated. But, in fact, as the deepest meaning of the mystery of the Transfiguration reveals to us, to follow and imitate Christ is not to suppress our freedom, and, with it, our distinctive human and personal identities. On the contrary. The whole point of freedom is to make it possible to embrace the good to which Christ directs us. In the end, to become more like Christ is not to become less ourselves, but more uniquely and distinctively ourselves.