I’ve been told that one day you’ll get to a point in your life where you just don’t give a… well, let’s keep this G-rated.. A dang. You don’t give a hoot about what others think about you, and from what I hear it’s a beautiful and freeing point to get to.
I have not gotten to that point.
But, sometimes things happen in life that allow us to take a step back, and realize we’re way too caught up in ourselves, what others think, our future… I mean, you name it. Have you ever had something happen to you that causes you to see the world in a completely different light? Maybe not even completely different, but one of those come-to-Jesus moments (or for those of you who aren’t Christian, “Holy crap what have I been doing/thinking my whole life” moments)? Everyone is on a different journey and whatever happens that opens your eyes is going to be completely different than what someone else experiences, but we all experience something that gives us a new perspective.
And, not to make this post a personal journal entry, but I recently went through something that opened my eyes to how caught up I had been in myself, how I look, what others think of me, etc. So, I told myself (well, actually I told my roommate, because God Bless her, I tell her everything) that I wasn’t going to take myself so seriously anymore. I was going to walk around without make-up on, and say what I’m thinking (even if it is a little weird… sorry to everyone who follows me on Snapchat), and I’m going to put myself out there without fear of rejection, and I’m going to make jokes and if people laugh that’s great… and if not, who cares? And, I have to say, since this new approach to life — to not caring so much about others think about me personally — I’ve been 10x happier than I could’ve ever imagined. It’s working.
You know how I know it’s working?
Well, if you know me, you know I’m an energetic ball of stress, but since starting this new approach, I’m not as stressed. I feel more at peace. I smile genuine smiles, because I’m genuinely happy.
It’s scary how much we can let others affect our own personal well-being. People will come in and out of our lives who don’t agree with who we are for whatever reason. Make sure you know who you are before you listen to anything they say. Sometimes, yes, we do need to take a step back and change bad habits, so I’m not saying completely rule those people out, but make sure you know who you are before you let any toxicity from another human poison your happiness.
I did hot yoga yesterday, which is quite an accomplishment for this runner, and our yoga instructor (is that what they’re called?) said something that really struck me. She said, what you call yourself (or in this case a part of your body) you will believe that and it will affect the way you look at it. If you say you have a bad hip, you will move forward in life looking at your hip in a negative way.
How easy is it for us to believe the negative things people say about us? We let their words define who we are and, therefore, walk through life with a tainted view of who we are. Nope. Don’t go there. And don’t let the toxic people get to that point in your life.
Instead, I challenge you to take yourself a little less seriously today. Wear the weird hat or make the funny joke or, I don’t know, do whatever weird thing you want to do, because life is way too short not to.
And, since I’ve started taking myself less seriously, I haven’t lost any friends… well, yet. 🙂
