When Being Who You Are Challenges the Norms
Post written by Leo Babauta.
I believe in shaking up the way things are done.
Often we’re stuck in a rut of doing things a certain way, because that’s the way everyone else does things, because that’s how it’s always done. Because it’s safe.
But the normal way of doing things is often not the only way, nor the best way. Bloodletting and leeches were once the normal way of treating most illnesses until smart people started questioning the practice. Women for a long time were kept out of the workplace because they were thought to be too weak or emotional for many jobs. People used to throw away very little, and nothing was ‘disposable’ because that was thought to be wasteful … wait, maybe that wasn’t so bad.
What if you could shake things up … just by being who you are? Without having to do anything but tell someone who or what you are? It turns out, that’s often been the case in my life. I will just mildly tell people who or what I am, and they start getting defensive, even if I haven’t actually attacked anything they do.
People assume I’m judging them, just because I do things differently. They’re wrong — I don’t judge what others do, but rather just try to live my life consciously, and conscientiously. I often fail, but in the attempt is everything.
What's your New Normal?(post comments below)
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