The more you love your own decisions, the less you need other people to love them.
I’ve been coming to the realization that the biggest obstacle holding me back is the fear of what other people will think. Like many others, the fear of being told I’m wrong or that I’m not good enough can feel so paralyzing, that it prevents me from saying or doing what I really want. I feel it often before I post content on social media. Three times in the last week, I have written out a meaningful caption for a picture that I later decided not to post or erased what I wanted to say and inserted a senseless emoji instead. That’s the funny thing about social media: you have the accessibility to share your message with the world, but you have no control over how people will feel about it. However, if I did somehow find a way to make sure 100% of people would vibe well with what I post, that wouldn’t be very authentic, would it? And it certainly wouldn’t go with the mantra that’s gotten me through the first half of my twenties – to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. The world needs more of the uncomfortable, awkward and unusual topics to be uncovered and discussed, even if it doesn’t get the same amount of response or ‘likes’ as the picture-perfect, safer posts.
The fear and risk that hinders me from posting isn’t just what other people will think; it’s mirrored with the thought that if someone doesn’t like it, I’ll realize I don’t either, or if someone doesn’t resonate well with what I post, it means it was a bad post. Caring about what other people think can’t be turned off like a switch, but setting an intention to be more authentic is something that can be exercised everyday. I don’t have it all figured out yet, but identifying what my fears are and creating a plan to overcome them has already helped me tremendously, and I know that the more I love my own decisions and the more I own them, the hesitations and fear will start to go away.
Monika Zsofka 