“But even with respect to the most insignificant things in life, none of us constitutes a material whole, identical for everyone, which a person has only to go look up as though we were a book of specifications or a last testament; our social personality is a creation of the minds of others. Even the very simple act that we call ‘seeing a person we know’ is in part an intellectual one. We fill the physical appearance of the individual we see with all the notions we have about him, and of the total picture that we form for ourselves, these notions certainly occupy the greater part.” –Marcel Proust
I wrote a post yesterday about the importance of trying new things and breaking past the social standards of texting, and calling someone. As I sat and thought more about why we don’t do or do certain things I was really drawn to the quote that I posted above. As human beings we tend to be a social species that focuses on the judging and analyzing others. I’m not always saying that this is bad thing. I know that most people are honestly judging and analyzing because they are simply trying to figure out what they don’t understand. At the same time we have to understand that we bring our on biases, feelings and thoughts each time we judge or analyze something. Let’s face it even as a writer, any feelings or thoughts that I feel am writing about are now subjected to my readers own personal thoughts and feelings. I can write something that means one thing to me, and can turn into a completely different piece to the reader based upon our different life experiences.
Giving trust to others and putting yourself out there can be extremely hard, especially when you know how much others judge and analyze. I have spoken with several people recently who have hesitation issues with trusting others. In my mind it takes an extremely brave individual to put out into the world their true self. People are going to do and think whatever they are going to do or think and there isn’t a lot that we can do about it, but to be able to accept that and continue to be who you really are, is in my mind truly extraordinary. It makes me thankful to have those genuine friends in this world who truly accept me for who I am, and are brave enough to show me who they really are. I truly believe one of the hardest things about living in this world is having the courage and being brave enough to be your genuine self, regardless of what anyone else thinks.
