(I didn’t write this, I simply found it while watching Vsauce and his “Science of Awkwardness” video. I’m definitely going to take it to heart, and so should you!)
“as an older person who wasted a lot of time in this life being painfully awkward, i’m here to tell you this man is right- the older you get, the easier it becomes. but maybe you can get there a lot sooner if i share my older person secret: quick, tell me all about your great-great grandmother. where was she born? where did she live? what were her struggles? how was her life? what did she dream of? who did she love? where is she buried?
odds are huge that you do not know any of this, probably not even her name.
next: have you ever been in a random cemetary? if not, do it soon. and when you’re there, realize that there are millions of graves, all over the world, and pretty much no one alive visits them or even knows a thing about ANY of the people buried there longer than a couple generations. now picture it’s a hundred years from now and you are buried there. who cares?
point is, life is soooo short, so realize that in the end, you’re here and then you’re gone. you will not have even existed a couple short generations down the road. the more you can get comfortable with this fact, the more you’re set free to live every day comfortable in your own skin, doing what you want to do, thinking what you want to think, being the quirky person that you are, and loving yourself and your life. and the more you will see what a monumental waste of your precious time it is to give it up to worrying about how other people see you. because truly, in the end, no one cares but you, and you should care- A LOT, because you are all you will ever have for sure.
youngsters who struggle, understand that most of your messed up feelings are because the the world is a messed up place, not you. just be you. i have never met a person who didn’t turn out to be fascinating and unique and amazing in some way, once i got to really know them. being different from each other is what makes the whole thing interesting. just be you!”
Champagne Pope 