The other day I found myself wondering why we are so gosh darn self conscious all the time. Here's the thing, I really love to take pictures. I would like nothing more than to lie on the ground in public or stand in the same spot for 20 minutes to get a good shot, but in the sea of people around me I constantly feel too self-conscious to actually do it. When I think logically I know that not a single person cares, and most wouldn't notice, but I doubt myself anyway.

Whenever I stop short or do something unconventional for a photo, I feel like everyone is watching me and judging me. Sure sometimes I catch people glaring or giving me confused looks, but mostly it's my own paranoia that makes me feel this way. The other day I stopped to take a photo and immediately felt uncomfortable, so I decided to truly ask myself why that is.

What I found was that the reason I felt so uncomfortable was only that I was scared to be judged. This then begs the question of why are we so gosh darn judgey?

As a society, we love to label everyone. Whether it be hippy, “basic”, athlete, nerd, or party girl, there’s always people trying to define you. We judge other on social media, and we judge people in real life. The more I thought about it the more it made me wonder if we are really all judging people, or if it just feels that way because those who are judgey are the loudest about it.

I know if I’m walking down the street and I see someone stop to take a photo, I don’t even think twice about it. The other day I saw a kid do a backflip in the middle of the sidewalk on the way to class, another day some kid was dancing by himself in the quad in front of everyone. Those seem to be much more obvious than taking a photo, and did I judge them? No, I thought it was really cool. They were doing things that make them happy, which in turn put a smile on my face.

My biggest fear is someone seeing me do the things I love and asking “who does she think she is?”, but does that mean I should stop doing them? If I stop taking photos, or making videos, or singing in the rain, I would be unhappy. You can only succeed at what you love doing if you keep trying. I know my work isn’t always the best, and I know some people will judge me for doing photoshoots or lying down on the pavement, but I can’t let that stop me. I can only improve if I keep learning.

Ignore the voice in your head telling you everyone is watching you. Ignore the people who stare. Most of them are probably just curious. If they are judging you, they aren’t worth your stress anyway. Always do what you love and maybe someday you will learn to love what you do.