Let someone else define you and you’ll forever be a slave to another’s assessment. Define yourself and you’ll know, at least, you are authentic.
It is hard to face a world in which collective perspectives become cash, the only currency of interaction, when one’s personal perspectives are at odds with the majority. It’s lonely—painful, an agonizing battle between acceptance and adherence to that internal drive toward understanding. The pain may never pay off. But even if it doesn’t, the absence of shame is payment enough for making the hard choice.
Your first two sentences provided some self-assurance for me, my friend. Glad I came by….
Proud of you for making the hard choice.