In a world where everyone seems to judge you for who you are and the choices you make, it can be difficult to find ways to celebrate what you can bring to the table. Here are five ways to stay true to yourself in one whirlwind of a world.
1. Know Your Comfort Zone
They say you start to live when you leave your comfort zone, but in order to leave your comfort zone, you have to know it. In order to know it, you have to try new things. We have this common perception of our comfort zone, but that perception can never be legitimate until you experiment the limits of your comfort zone. Sometimes, your perception can be wrong while other times it can be right. Only one way to know.
2. Never Compare Yourself To Others
You control your own actions, but you cannot control the actions of others. Only learn from them. There will always be someone better than you. Nobody can truly be defined as the best. Therefore, why fixate on others? At the end of the day, the only way you can bet better than yesterday is by focusing on your own development. A trick in doing so is by not adjusting to the common ways of life, but to have life adjust to you. The only way you can become awesome at life is by comparing yourself to yourself and being better than yourself.
3. Control Self-Consciousness
Many people including myself can be really self-conscious about what people think of them. We have this unconscious instinct to be presentable and ensure likability among strangers, and the opinions of others about us are so important. Personally, I don't know how this instinct came to be, but it's there. Of course, certain opinions about us mean the difference between success and failure in special aspects. Though, let's be realistic. How often does that happen? College? Job Promotions? Exactly. In short, just remember that you know what your friends and loved ones think about you, and all those thoughts are always going to be great. So who cares what other people think about you?
4. Commit to Your Passions
As an extension to self-consciousness, it is important to stick with your hobbies, interests, etc (within reason of course). Nowadays, people do things with the majority which is perfectly fine if that is what you want. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do the things most people don't do, again within reason. The happiest and most successful people enjoy what they do for a living. You can never be unique without being different first. You can't be the fruit loop in a bowl of cheerios without picking a color first. Do what you love to do and never look back.
5. Never make decisions based on fear.
This was a piece of life advice I only received recently. When you make decisions based on fear, you're most likely doing so to prevent something from occurring. In a sense, the prevention could very well be the only option in certain scenarios. However, that doesn't mean you can't find alternatives. The best way to never make decisions based on fear is to be fearless, and to be fearless, you have to be strong. There will be times where life will challenge you and bring fear to you, but as long as you trust yourself and the others you love, fear will be a thing of the past. Don't be afraid to pursue your goals and dreams. It sounds cliche, but that's the point.
