There’s a question that dictates the lives of so many people. It drives them to the point where they lose all sense of who they are.

This is the question.

What do you think of me?

They become addicted to the question and spend their entire lives in its shadow. I say shadow because they’re too afraid to come out and be who they really are. The question holds them back. It restrains them from living.

The unfortunate thing about the question is that as people age, they begin to realize just how much they let the opinions of others dictate their lives. That’s why you’ll see people of a certain age will no longer care what they say or how they behave because as the idea of death gets closer, they understand that they no longer need to fear the consequences of being who they really are.

But why wait until death is closer?

What if you could escape the shadow of the question earlier in life?

The good news is that you can, the bad news is that there is a price to pay. What’s the price? I don’t know because it’s different for everyone.

Is the price worth it? I can’t tell you that either. That’s something you’re going to have to decide for yourself. What I can tell you is that if you live your entire life thinking about what other people think about you then you will not live a full life. Your life will be stunted by your anxiety and worrying about the opinions of others.

It’s not easy to escape the thought of what people think about you. In fact, I’m thinking about it right now as I write this, because I know you’ll read it. But I’m writing it anyway because I think it’s more important to share than what you think. So, I’m willing to take the risk and let the chips fall where they may. Hopefully, as you go through life you too will make the decision to be who you are and pay the price regardless of what people think of you.

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