Today there were 4 children in my house below the age of 8. Obviously, that is four more children than I’d like to have around me. But well, I enjoy observing children in their most unguarded state and find that I always learn new things about them that way. Anyway, I was reminded of a tumblr post that spoke about how children were like mini – people and I just casually said that these kids were just like condensed people. This comment somehow was termed as ‘sick’, stupid and illogical by my super cool parents.. (I’m not even exaggerating. I’ve literally quoted their reaction word to word.)
But this comment by my parents really made me feel stupid, inept and just overall depressed. Was I wrong in the way I process things? Am I mentally sick/unstable/morbid? So I wondered about this for a few hours. In conclusion, I’d like to say that if I constantly keep worrying about how other people perceive me, I am going to lose all the progress I have made since 2012 and it will just be sad for me. My parents don’t understand that I am very sensitive or that I have a very intense way of processing things. But then, why should I even expect them to? It is not part of their description to do those things for me or to make me feel good about myself.
We have been so programmed to seek approval from external sources that when we don’t find that approval, we’re in a funk. And we have been told that as part of our basic social interactions, we must judge, tag and strip people’s behavior patterns down and form opinions about them based on what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.
While it will not happen overnight, I have decided that I need to learn how to be okay about myself despite what my parents, friends or anybody else thinks. No, I don’t mean for this to be a license for bad behavior. But I spend exhausting amounts of time worrying about other people and get anxious about the same. So no more.
This is the first practical tip I have to offer to anybody who is looking to pull their lives together.
Until next time.
OscarPotterhead 