- HubPages»
- Health»
- Mental Health
The Expense Of Being Yourself
Just believe
The Cost Of Being You
Today society as a whole lives off judgments and evaluations. We are herded in a way to meet certain guidelines and personality traits to simply survive in the modern world. Self-Expression outside the profession of artists is practically frowned upon under the circumstances that people who are 'different' won't fit in with the people who are already accepted...given that notion...who sets the standards of what is normal and what is different anymore?
I personally have always viewed myself as an individual. I feel certain things because I have opinions and thoughts and the ability to voice them. People daily are losing this voice because they are put down into the modernized way of thinking you have to be "X" in order to be successful...or have to be "X" in order for people to treat you as you wish to be treated...whatever happened to the encouragement of being one's own self...letting people see the traits that are special...and the traits that make you different....and embracing that as a whole?
I am an individual who thrives on difference...I feel self expression and passion are the true windows to a persons soul. I think so little attention anymore is geared toward this...that everything has fallen into a mute point of these are the standards, follow them, and the rest will fall under way... You now have people that one on one under a comfortable setting where they can just let themselves be themselves...hiding who they really are. People who otherwise could make such a difference...you have relationships being hindered because of fear of acceptance in one another...and the shame of it all is it's being backed and approved everyday by the majority of those around us...
For what it's worth...I'm not a large voice...I'm one person, married with kids, but I thrive on the ability to simply being you. I am an imperfect being. I have a personality that is very strong in some areas, and very weak and insecure in others, but it's what makes me who I am, and its what reached out to the people in my life that matter, and gains my acceptance or denial. Anyone reading this can take it as simply words and nothing more...or they can take it and realize there is someone they know, who may be different, or who may be hard to understand at times, maybe someone in a relationship who doesn't see eye to eye with the way their partner feels, and take this and see, it is in this difference, that often times creates such a special bond. In expression it can sometimes cause distance...but it's also what develops relationships as a whole.
The cost of being yourself is often just being willing to put yourself out there...without fear of judgment and let people see you for you. Let your family, friends, and whoever else see you and judge for themselves...now this isn't saying if you are a raver at heart to go into work with a bunch of hard core jewelry on ready to rock out...its saying to now fear expressing your interests and letting people see the real you. A lot of us seem to lose focus on the importance of being an individual...because aside from being able to create ourselves as a person...what else do we as people ultimately have control over?
Comments
- Author
Well worded and so true. Thank you for your insight...It's greatly appreciated :)
This is all part of the human condition. No matter where you look in the world or in what era you will find tribalism - people who stick together so they can be an "us" and everyone else can be a "them." There is power in numbers after all and whether we can cohesively think out and express this or not we all know it innately. Sometimes its religion that binds, sometimes its nationalism, sometimes its just a system of morals, behaviors, interests, or even looks. Within the broad Western culture there's separate ethnic and "novelty" subcultures within it and that can be broken up into increasingly small groups. This need to fit in is so intense that it drives people to do crazy things - some tribes display facial tattoos or full body scaring as a way of saying you were born to us and you will always be one of us, never one of them. In our society its more psychological... get married, have kids, work at a job, own a house, get a dog, retire, die. If those are the things you want to do great - the rest of us will just have to deal with the constant nattering of family and friends while at the same time seeking out people and groups of people we can express ourselves to. There are scant few people in this world that don't at least have a double life (a face shown to family, a face shown to fellow workers, a face shown to close friends and loved ones, and a face shown to the rest of the world.)