SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE
It's inevitably true that we live in a world where we constantly long to be accepted by our society of friends or at least feel among in the midst of our peers. Our lives revolve in such a way that we seek acceptance or recognition among the group of friends that possesses certain qualities, attributes or maybe display material possession. The crave to be accepted obstructs the true revelation of one's self. There are so many lives messed up now because of the actions they took or the decisions they failed to make on the altar of social acceptance, just to please their group of friends. It all begins with "It's just a stick of cigarette", "come on don't act small", till it warrants to drug addiction or something worse because in attempt to act in favour of those alluring words, we end up compromising just to fit in.
Photo Source : Pixabay
Undoubtedly, we all need to build our social status, grow our circle of friends , we wish to feel among but it's consequential if that is desired at the expense of our values. I've always known I'm not a party freak, never felt that comfortable going to parties especially at night but a close friend had his birthday party thrown in the evening and I had gave him my word not to absent myself from the party, it was difficult turning him down. Now the worst scenario came to play when I was offered alcohol of which I gladly declined. I had people asking me if it was against my religious doctrines but then I don't drink alcohol not because my belief or religious background abhors it. The last time I checked, I wasn't a religious Christian and no changes have been imposed on that since then. I have a brain very sensitive to alcohol in such a way that it gets intoxicated at the slightest inhalation of it not to even consider drinking it. So I had a problem partaking in a party where everyone drank and danced and there I was girded in my armour of decency. You know the saying "when you're in Rome, act like a Roman", I actually tried to implement that, wanted to force myself to drink just not to be mocked as the only righteous girl there but then it didn't work because that was what I could be, couldn't imagine myself acting all wild after taking few sips because I know that could have happened.
Most times, if not all the time, you need to make decisions concerning your life and your actions, stand your ground, bear the consequences and if it turns out good then you enjoy the benefits. Compromising your values, principles governing your attitude, in order to blend with troops of friends is nothing bad but when it's on the basis of gaining social acceptance, praise or recognition then it speaks low of your self worth and control.
It's most likely realistic that our egocentric minds attribute people's behavior or attitude towards us as a sheer display of social rejection because we've allowed our minds to interpret events and experiences in a negative light so we beat our chest, strive hard to gain their acceptance and shower of praises.
In a more precise words, we need social acceptance, we need a sense of social belonging, a feeling of importance but we also need to love ourselves enough to appreciate how we were crafted.
You seem to be like me an introvert. While I never felt pressured to drink I did occasionally drink in my youth just to endure parties until I asked myself why endure it. And then I just didn't anymore. It really isn't about being "righteous" opposed to " tainted" it is about you loving people who are most likely not in your tribe. It happens but it usually does not end well. I am also not saying that the people of your tribe will all be introverts but the people of your tribe will understand that you are and not force you to do things that make you unhappy. I enjoy the occasional dinner party but anything bigger and it is not happening, those close to me know that. If a friend has a bigger Birthday bash I will meet them for early morning or next morning brunch on a one to one setting to make up for it , they get me and do not cage me in. But yes it took a while until I was comfortable to voice my needs and enforce them. The thing is as long as you hide a part of your self your real tribe can't find you because you are silencing your beacon. If others are happy partying let them but you live your own way and bloom as you are meant to be the right people will show up don't worry .
I'm glad you see it this way but there are a great number of people who don't see life from your own perspective. They give up who they are in an attempt to gain the praises of others.
But then, thanks for your sincere comment, nice to have you around
I appreciate and agree with the message of your article, @estherikott. It is so important to be true to yourself, and not compromise on your values just to be accepted by people.
Your Shutterstock.com photo has a watermark on it. This means that you are displaying a copy of a photo that you have not paid for the use of. It is not enough to give credit to the source in this case. Pixabay is usually a good resource for free-use photos, but in this case they are offering a photo that should not be there.
Any time you see a photo with a repeating watermark design, a cross-out, or a source name imprinted over it, this means the person or company who owns the photo is letting people know the person using the photo does not have the right to do so. Once you pay for the use you have access to the same photo without those markings.
I was not going to give you my upvote because of this picture. Then I decided to go ahead and upvote, and tell you about the photo. Since you have received an upvote for this article I am now asking you to remove it, and select a different one that is not copyrighted and watermarked like this one is. I'm sure you did not realize what those watermarks meant, and did not mean to use this photo in a wrong way.
I've upvoted and resteemed this article as one of my daily post promotions for the @mitneb Curation Trail Project. It will be featured in the @mitneb Curation Trail Project Daily Report for 03 FEB 2018.
Cheers!
Thank you @mitneb, I didn't know about that
I will use any picture as a substitute for that
Once again, thanks for the consideration
Is that a definition or an opinion?
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