Being yourself? or just acting like you are in order to fit in?

Currently I am involve in this Clinical study where there's not much to do but sleep, eat, read, board games, and watch movies, and something came to my mind.

Try to think about when you are around people, whether it be with friends, family, or random people. When you are socializing with people, try to socialize with a sense and awareness of your emotions and actions. Are you being absolutely yourself or do you tend to act in a way in favor of the other party to fit in?

I try to be myself, but it's hard because I want people to like me and I feel sometimes I have play in favor of others (which sometimes goes against myself). The key is to notice the behavior and try to practice and better yourself.

Here's a cool quote to live by "I rather be like by people for who I am than be liked by people for pretending to be someone that I am not"

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Bernard Black

What a conundrum. I'm working on just being myself, but it's very difficult when you're afraid people will hate you for the tiniest deviation from their own norms.

Wow! I know exactly what you are talking about. There's sometimes this fear that I have of new and old friends of mine that they will someday hate me if I really decide to just be 100% the self I feel is me, and maybe they will be ok with it and maybe not.

People tell me that with friends that shallow they were never friends to begin with or not even worth your time if they are like that. It's like someone else said in this thread, "not everyone is going to like you" and that's ok, it's just that for some people (including me), it's sometimes hard to deal with the mind thinking too much and just letting it go, learning from the experience, and move on.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Magus-Cie

I find that when first meeting a group of new people I will unconsciously copy a few of their mannerisms and habits out of...I dunno, social preservation? But as time goes on I assert more of myself and less of them.

At the same time though, this makes looking for friends/relationships a bit easier since if I find someone who I don't do this with, either I don't like them at all or they are a great deal similar to me.

You make a very good point! I think we all do this to some extinct, some more than others. I think a person's ability to recognize the behavior in others as well as in themselves and choosing what to do with that knowledge greatly varies the degree of an individual confidence, self-esteem, and self identity.

I'm going to change my mind on the idea of "being yourself". I am not going to deny anyone of who they feel they are. The idea of one person of self is of being independent amongst others or seeing themselves as being a part of others, maybe a little of both, or whatever you believe who you are in respect to others or not or maybe it's not something you concentrate on at all; I feel it's too constricting and one dimensional.

With this being said. I want to put this out there again that no matter who you think, feel, and believe you are, others may not feel the same way, for some it doesn't affect them, we brush it off and move on, for others it causes us to reevaluate ourselves, question our actions and beliefs.

Anyways, I think your way of handling things is very good. It's a balancing act , the more you work on it the better you get and in time it's something you don't have to think so much about.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.