..As a kid i was quite the rebel, questioning anything i was confronted with..A little more than two decades later i am still the same..A lot of people thought i will ‘change’ with time and adhere to norms of society (even if they made no sense)..Nothing changed..I became more of who i am..And i am very happy with the way i think..even though some times the closest of my people feel that maybe if i ‘changed’ a little..it’ll be better for my own good..Why do people not realize that changing yourself, your essential being is like cheating on the way you were created..Isn’t my happiness all that should count? My being different – is it some sort of a threat to people around me?? Or is the selfish human nature which has since times immemorial criticized for thinking ‘out of the box’ ? I feel both..Not even one example we have in history where an individual was appreciated at the first instance for being different..Criticism, for me is quite a motivation..Criticism and me go so hand in hand..We have a kind of special bond now..And i believe that i am criticized because people feel that i am in some way more ‘progressive’, more ‘liberal’ and most of all FREE than they are..Free from the dogmas, the narrow outlook, the shackles of society..It does get painful at times when people consider you insane for the way you think..At least for a lot of years it was..The feeling when i thought that is everything ok with me..? How do i not connect to people that fast..? why don’t our mental faculties meet..? why doesn’t’ the societal issues bother them as much as they bother me..? Now after so many years the world at large speaks of the very same issues, i feel ‘ “o yes i was way way ahead of my age..my time”..
..And now is the time i realize that being the way i am has helped me in so many ways..i have never allowed anyone to suppress me or my way of thinking..people can agree with me or disagree with me..that is up to them but NOBODY can ever impose things i do not want to conform to..and that is what makes me FREE..At times i find myself standing alone..as if the entire world has gone against me..In moments like that i tell myself..If this is the price for being ‘YOU’..be it..We humans have ‘evolved’ over a period of thousand years..we have fought endless battles to find our freedom..so now when we finally are living in a world where we are entitled to have independent opinions and being FREE .. why are we so scared to be that way??I am proud of who i am..i am not perfect. i have a lot of flaws but those flaws can improve over time..what will not improve over time is my essential ‘self’ being chained ..that too for things that don’t really matter..So i choose to remain the way i am..Life is a journey of self-refinement..a process of transformation..We have got just one life and that according to me cannot be wasted in being ‘somebody else’ just for approval by people who will never matter..I refuse to live in fear, i refuse to be chained and i refuse to NOT BE ME.. The time when i will be minutes away from parting from this world and my entire life will appear in front of me like a series of images in a slideshow, i will feel happy that i did not waste a lifetime just eating, sleeping , drinking and procreating..I want to live ‘being me’ and die ‘being me’..Therefore no matter how much the criticism, how much the enslavement by society , i refuse to budge from my stand..i am happy ‘being free’..i am happy ‘being me’.. !!!
I completely agree with you… I am as free as can be , and do not care what society wants us to do…. we are special because we are different, and we should stay the original we were made by creation, not a copy of the society. 🙂
there’s nothing more sublime than looking at yourself in the mirror and knowing that that person looking back at you is an awesome human being who can make it anywhere, anyhow.
Yup 🙂
Being free also requires the knowledge that one is morally responsible for everything one does. Freedom is always a two-edged sword, in the sense that what you see as your freedom can harm you and others. As long as it only harms you, have at ’em! Just be careful you don’t hurt innocents.
Sometimes freedom means the freedom to feel responsible and do things you don’t want to do. The freedom to make decisions that aren’t perfect for you. Don’t let the concept of freedom prevent you from taking responsibility for your actions. I don’t give a damn what society wants, but you can be sure that I feel responsible for individual human beings, and I often curtail my freedom out of consideration for the freedom of others.
All I am saying is that freedom is not a cut and dried thing. It’s give and take.
Hell yes its give and take but I STILL OWN IT!!
It’s really startled me just how much you’re expected to adhere to social norms as an adult and now I have two kids the criticism is particularly hard to take because it all revolves around my competence or dedication to my children- but I feel that one of the most important lessons I want to impart to them is liberation and you can’t do that with words… Nobody else can or will take care of your happiness and self esteem and if you achieve them through ‘faking it’ they’ll be only too fragile- I can say that from experience.
A nurse working with terminally ill patients conducted a survey of their regrets and the single most common regret was: “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected.”
That won’t be mine.
Yup own your life .
and
Don’t ever allow anyone to tell you ever that your’e less than your freedom 🙂
beautiful Akriti. Thank you for sharing, that post tour me today. Im learning to be more happy with myself and with others.. Learnign to share not just things, but feelings.
I’m glad u feeling this way. Remain this way 🙂
Thank u!!
This post,yes this one, is the one which defines you.Must say some real good introspection and even better usage of words and sentence construction-which is always there in your posts- to reflect the true You. Go ahead, be the way you are, the world will learn to treat you as the original you,and if not, it doesn’t deserve your attention at all !!
yep 🙂
I love this so much! I can’t help but applaud and 100% support people who fully own their individuality and their true self in a society that wants to fit people into perfect little boxes. Thank you for directing me to this– this type of dialogue is always incredibly inspiring to me. =]
Thanks for that lovely comment 🙂
What I love the most about connecting with like minded people is that we can relate to the same topics. Many people are so blind that they don’t even realize that they have been brainwashed by society and by all means I encourage people to take back their control. As well as holding ourselves accountable for our actions. Many will rebel but don’t want to take up for their mistakes when it happens. I’m off point lol but awesome post! I enjoyed it 🙂
thanks buddy 🙂
Cheers to being free 🙂