When people disapprove, take you the wrong way, think you’re inappropriate or just plain old don’t get you …
Other people, huh?
Unfortunately you can never make them see you as you would like to be seen. That would certainly be nice though wouldn’t it?
It is something that has really dogged me my whole life, what other people say, what other people think of me, what I think other people think of me ... all of that stuff … and it has led to such self-doubt and self-editing. Not being free to be seen in public, as it were.
Ever have that yourself? It’s one of the reasons why I learnt the Bright Path Ishayas’ Ascension meditation. Because it gives me the ability to just not care. To go “Meh!” To see what I can control and what I can’t, and to focus on what I can do rather than worry about what I cannot.
(Above is a picture of you, when you do that. You shine you see, just like a lightbulb. The perfect picture, yet again!)
Beyond that the only thing that seems to "work" is the realisation that I don't want to not be seen, not be me any more. That it's too much hard work to try and guess what other people might misconstrue or find appropriate, and just to get used to being taken the wrong way from time to time.
It takes courage, but it gets easier the more I do it ... just "putting myself out there" as it were.
The biggest fear, I believe, is not failure, but failing, looking stupid in public. And yet on the other side of that fear is such relief and freedom.
I don’t have any real fix, no magic pill to make fear go away and never come back — just that I know from personal experience that it gets easier to deal with the more you deal with it. Being present helps enormously, for sure.
So, I don't know if that helps any this fine day, but I certainly hope so!
You are amazing, get going on this life of yours. Don't wait for approval from no one! And certainly try not to waste your time wondering what other people think.
Go well! Arjuna
PS. Life is too short to worry about what other people think, don’t you think?
Good luck - soldier forth, and if I can assist? Please just ask
PPS. If you’d like to learn the means to reset all your worries about other people, and bolster your “Meh!” muscle leaving you free to care about the important things in your life, here’s some excellent ways, for free: