”You have the body of a goddess. You are a total badass” – Words that levitate us.
”You are not clever enough, not skinny enough, not brave enough” – Words that obliterate us.
Now, why is this dangerous? Because regardless of whether we’re applauded or ridiculed, we’re still putting all our trust in someone else to uplift our spirits with magic words. And those are words that have little to do with us in the first place.
Words are powerful. They have always been. They have the capacity to build empires, make us fall in love in a matter of seconds and heal wounds of the past. Unfortunately, they can also sever alliances, drain the confidence we got and bring tears to our eyes.
But most of the time, they are nothing but air… Or so I would put it in simple words anyway. Hence why we mustn’t place anyone’s opinion on the first spot of the podium no matter how much flattery is thrown in our way.
It’s rather impossible to accept praise without accepting the criticism as well. That is why gleaming from compliments can be just as dangerous as crying thanks to insults. Either way, we are discrediting ourselves. We are relying on someone else’s opinion to feel worthy or beautiful or brave when our true worth should always come from within us. From us.
Marcus Aurelius said once ‘‘It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people but care more about their opinion than our own”.
Perhaps we should aim to do the things that merit our own admiration instead. At least, then there’d be no running around in circles, trying to oblige those who are still learning how to oblige themselves.
Thus, be the kind of person who would make you proud. The rest doesn’t matter a bit.
Of Coffee Thoughts 