5 years back, I was standing in front of an audience of 70-100 people. I was supposed to speak on a chosen topic just for a minute or two.
I have always had this cocky confidence that I can do anything so I wake up last minute, half drunk from last night, just in time to enter the hall, didn’t prepare anything for the topic. Go in there, start speaking and go silent for a whole minute. Yes, whole FUCKING MINUTE.
Soon, I get back to my senses, smile, back off and let the other speaker speak. I don’t know what happened there but I was super embarrassed, I kept grilling myself. “Kartik how could you do that, you are such a PUSSY”. But then I let it go and realized, what I had just experienced is pretty common and happens to the best of the best.
It’s true they say ‘NOBODY is cut out from a different cloth’.
Even the world-class performers feel doubts.
There are times you will feel miserable and there are times you will feel nothing can put you down.
The secret is not to hold yourself to an IMAGINARY standard. Accept you are just another human after all.
Embrace the awkwardness, embrace the confusion, the more you fight it, the more it has power over you.
“GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION to fail”, I would go so far as to say, feel proud when you do something dorky.
Break goddam fucking patterns. if you feel everyone is taking you too seriously, do some dorky shit and show them your human side.
If everyone thinks you are too dorky, be serious for a while, act like you own this shit. Flip the script. Do the unexpected. It makes life fun.
I’ll say it one time and repeat it again
“YOU DON’T HAVE ANY GODDAM PERSONALITY TO LIVE UP TO”
And I’ll stop you right there if you say “I don’t know, it’s just not me”. Shut the fuck up, you don’t even know who you are. Your personality and your thoughts are just a result of your upbringing and environment.
Over time, you just learned some patterns and behavior, finally settling into a reaction mechanism that now you proudly call, “YOUR PERSONALITY”
Stop taking yourself too damn seriously. Life is fucking short. You are not here to prove anything to anybody. Disrupt shit, don’t put yourself in an IMAGINARY BOX and start living your whole life according to it.
The opinion of others MATTERS but you know what matters more, the opinion of YOU about yourself. Be your BEST FRIEND, treat yourself nice. Most people do stupid shit, cause they don’t love themselves enough.
There is this one quote I really like
“If it’s not gonna matter in 5 years, don’t spend over 5 minutes thinking about it”
Until next time!
P.S: Yeah I am a fan of Archer, go watch it, its good! 😀
