Being Yourself: The Short End of the Stick

Being Yourself: The Short End of the Stick

 

            We all have days where we feel like we are getting cheated out of something. Be it, a good grade, or a ranking at a competition, sometimes we just feel like we deserve better. Most of us do deserve better, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. I understand completely. There are some times in my life where I definitely got it easy and its pretty smooth sailing for the most part. Other times I just come up short. Main example in my life is at home, I am the middle child of three. When it comes to ganging up on someone, my two siblings (older sister and younger brother) have it down to an art form. They are perfectly in sync with each other. They know what to say, to back each other up in an argument when it’s just me versus them, they know when to get rough and yell, and they make the fight basically feel like a WWE match between Mr. Rodgers and the Hulk tag teaming with Thor. That simply put is not a fair battle at all. The result is always that compared to a Native American Reserve fighting against the Enola Gay dropping Little Boy (that’s a little splash history for ya, if you don’t know what Little Boy is, look it up on Google). It’s really one-sided. So believe me, I’ve been in your shoes even if it’s just an infinitesimally small fraction of what you all have been through I at least have a small understanding of what goes on in life.

            Maybe it’s how you’re treated in your home, maybe it’s at school, or maybe it’s just walking down the street. We’ve all been treated badly, taken down a few notches, and left in the dust. Even when our confidence is at its highest it can take just one person to say a simple phrase that makes us feel horrible and not worth much. My theory is, hearing an insult from someone you don’t really know is way more costly than hearing one from someone who knows you well. Because think about it, we all take things that we hear from people we know not that seriously, but if it’s someone who is just getting a first impression of you, and is disgusted enough to insult you, then that makes us all feel like we are majorly in the wrong. We feel horrible because they immediately found the bad side of us and pointed it out, we feel exposed, guilty, self-conscious, and flat out wrong. But this is only if we let it get to us. This same thought applies to us at home, in our daily lives, in school, or once again, simply walking down the street.

            We could feel cheated out of everything in our lives and let harsh words and people ruin everything that makes us happy in life, or we could stand up for ourselves, brush the dirt off of our shoulders, and walk right by the insulter giving them a good: “have a nice day”. Nothing takes the wind out of antagonists sails like acting the words don’t affect you at all. Even if they do, don’t show it. They want a reaction and that will get you down. Feel like you drew the long straw in life and it will start to go that way. As always guys, thanks for reading, I love you all!