Illustration 30377469 © Alain Lacroix – Dreamstime.com
Self-consciousness can influence the trajectory of your life. It causes us to forgo taking risks that lead to opportunity and great outcomes. Why? Because, we to place too much focus on how others perceive us and what they think.
Therefore, we become too fearful of making decisions for ourselves. Therefore, we don’t follow own paths and do what fulfills us.
“What will others think of me?”
“How will they treat me if I decide to do this?”
“What will my friends say?”
You’re constantly on alert, allowing these questions to replay in your subconscious, over and over again. However, what if I told you that these friends and “others” are just as self-conscious as you? And what if your bullies bully and ridicule you because they are scared of what others will think of them if they don’t bully you?
Here’s what my mother told me years ago.
“Most people worry too much about how they appear in front of others to care about how you appear. Also, any time someone points a finger and judges you, they do so from a place of their own insecurity. Most do it out of self-consciousness and it should be of no consequence to you.”
As usual, she was right!
In other words, they’re too busy monitoring themselves to monitor you. And if they do watch you and wait for you to screw up, it’s for the chance of taking the spotlight off their own imperfections. Put another way, they’re so worried about how they appear to others that they’re more than willing to point out your flaws in order to conceal theirs. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book- keep the spotlight off your own screw ups by highlighting someone else’s.
At the root of bullying is self. Self-servitude, self-validation, self-centeredness. But most of all, Self-consciousness.
If this isn’t a real confidence booster, nothing is!
With knowledge comes empowerment!