My Thoughts: There comes a time in everyone’s life where they are given a choice; be different and unaccepted or conform and be accepted. These decisions sneak up on us and start early on. It may be as simple as pretending to enjoy the same band all your friends are raving about, that you find horrible. It might be something larger like your thoughts on pro-choice or gay rights. When you decide to pretend you’re something you’re not you are really are making two choices. The first one is whatever we decide to show the world, saying that we aren’t pro-choice when we are, for example. The second choice is are you honest about who you are or not.
Here is the thing, people verbally agree to things they don’t mentally agree with for 2 reasons: They don’t want to cause conflict and disagree or they don’t want to be different.
First, let me say, if you are the type of person who conforms with others to blend, in please stop, all you are doing is cheating yourself from the happiness of being who you are.
Secondly, if you conform to avoid conflict, there is another way. We all come across people who like to argue…. they view any opposition as a chance to debate until they are blue in the face and this excites them. For people who avoid conflict this is very strange behavior and they want to avoid it at all costs. Guess what, you can avoid it without lying. You can change the subject or politely tell them that you have a different opinion and don’t want to argue but respect their view. If they won’t stop pushing, walk away. (Yes that is a valid choice!)
Don’t hide who you are or what you want because in the end you’re only cheating yourself. Who wants love that only comes with submission? Not me!