Just like we all have stories we all tell ourselves about ourselves, we all have stories we tell ourselves about other people. Often times we use this other-narrative as a substitute for actually getting to know other people, despite being constructed mostly from indirect interaction or secondary accounts. I wouldn’t get a long with this person because. I think this person doesn’t like me because. This person said X one time so they must think a certain way.
It can be hard to be yourself when you think people around you already have preconceived ideas about who you are as a person. You can resent others for judging you without first getting to know you, even if that is all in your head and has no basis in reality.
We can never fully anticipate or control what others will think about us based on what we do or don’t do. So in the end the best course of action is to just be unapologetically ourselves… whatever that means.
nANIMOv 