I spend a great deal of time worrying about how other people see me. Sadly this isn’t something only I struggle with.
When you see yourself through the eyes of others, you start to conform to what they want. You become a slanted version of yourself. This leads to cultivating relationships that aren’t fulfilling, developing skills you don’t care to develop, and ignoring your own goals in favor of pursuing the whims of others.
The sad truth is that regardless of what you do, many people out there will simply not like you. They don’t choose to dislike you, just as you don’t choose the people you dislike.
The silver lining is that here lies an opportunity to act in accordance with how you know you should act. To be the person you know you can and should be. Being authentic in how you carry yourself may turn away people you were previously trying to please, but it may also attract people with whom you really connect.
Being authentic is hard in some ways but easier in others - if you can drop your attachment to gaining approval from every person you meet.
“A genius is the one most like himself.” - Thelonious Monk