I was listening to a talk by Simon Sinek and he was discussing how people care too much about what other people think. In fact, people tend to care so much about others' opinions, that they tend to act just how they think others would perceive them to be.
I realized that I tend to do this myself.
And I hate that.
I realized earlier on that I tend to act shy in environments where I think the people around me think I am quiet, loud in environments where I think people think I am social, nervous in situations where others would expect for me to be nervous, etc. This is obviously so delusional and silly... yet natural in a weird and annoying way. Perhaps because I feel that I don't want to step out of my bounds... the self-imposed boundaries, that is :/
However, I am a social person when I want to be social (and that's with certain people and in certain environments). I get nervous in front of big crowds though not as nervous as others probably expect me to be. I could be quiet at times, but it's not because I'm shy.
I should act according to who I want to be and not how I think others think I am or should be. This is so obvious but I think more people do it than we realize. I think this is why it is so important to be aware of who you are and more importantly how you see best fit to conduct yourself. It is important to not just go with the flow and be who and how others expect us to be. We should act according to our values and visions. I think the best way to ensure this is to just be aware and keep ourselves in check.
Also, isn't it interesting how there are certain obvious truths that we as individuals may not recognize until someone points them out to us? I was recently talking to a friend about various aspects of life that I came to recognize. He said that he appreciated hearing my perspective on life and situations because I bring up points that he may not have ever thought about. I responded with the idea that conversing with others is so important for that very reason- because we learn and expand off of one another. What I realize and pull away from something he may not have thought of... and vice versa. This is the whole idea of being able to learn so much from others- just as I had learned such an important truth by listening to Simon Sinek.
I have started becoming an avid listener of Simon Sinek's and so would like to share one of my favorite videos of his:
“You are so young, so much before all beginning, and I would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer”
- Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke