Care about what other people think and you'll be their prisoner for life

Just read a superb quote, and could relate it to my life in a lot too many ways. The quote goes as :

"Care about what other people think and you'll be their prisoner for life." - James Frey

Hello to all of you my friends! I hope the Sunday is going on, or has gone(in case its over for you already!) good for you! :) And what I wanted to discuss at my Desiccator today, was this quote that I just stated above.

Isn't it quite right? In everybody's life there is a moment which is influenced by the thinking of others. We might sometimes say away casually that, "Huh! I don't care what world thinks about me. I am what I am." But inside, at some point of time, our decisions do get affected. Why does that happen then? Aren't we lying to ourselves? Or are we just trying to let our false pride, or "EGO" to be specific, live longer?

The quote by James Frey, that I have stated above is quite true. When we think about what other's would think of our action, we are unable to be ourselves. All of us want to be someone who is different from others, so that we don't get lost in the crowd of this world. But if we are unable to do things our way, or say, or speak up what we like or want, just because the listener or the other person won't, or rather, "might won't", like it, then we are doing nothing but just killing that special person who we actually are.

I would say, it is kind of running away from reality, when our decisions are affected by others. I can state a simple example out here. Consider you want to buy a gift for your best friend. Now if you want to buy a gift, who should be deciding what you should buy? You? Your friend? or the shopkeeper?

If the shopkeeper decides, then he would like to sell you something that would fetch him the most profit. Your friend would ask for something he/she is longing for. But if you decide yourself, then? Then you would buy something, your pocket allows you. Something you think would be the best. And what my own experiences suggest is that when the choice is ours, the gift we give is the best, well atleast in 90% cases. Here though we do think what would other person like, or would think of our gift, but if the person is your friend for real, he/she would love anything you buy for them, then if is it just a flower.

The reason why I stated the above example is not to justify the quote as such, but to tell you that the quotes are a bit flexible. What I mean is, just don't go with the meanings of the words, but consider them to be metaphoric. Anyways, lets get back to the quote and just the literal meaning of it.

"Care about what others think" - When you think of what others think, (oh! I have said it already! Geesh, don't get bored! LOL!) you don't do what you think, but your decision and thought process gets molded. Consider it this way - Your thought is a material. The other person's thoughts, and words are the fire. When the fire gets over your material, it starts rising it's temperature. This, thus, makes the "material" go soft. And the stress it generates on you, tends to mold this material in the way the other person thinks. What happens then?! Your original thought is destroyed. It is changed. The new thought is not yours, it is something that has the body of your thought, but the soul! well, it is taken away, and is replaced by the one that was of the other person's thought.

What happened to you then? You as a unique person are lost. Your mind is enslaved, and your thoughts are influenced by others. Thus what are you now? A PRISONER! Sadly, but yes, you have ended up being a prisoner, all because what you want to say or do is not what you actually say or do, but what you actually say or do, is what other person wants or likes, or thinks is okay!

In practice, it is not possible to be thinking completely in a way that is uninfluenced by the other person, but the lesser it is, the more original you are, and the more "YOU", you are! So try not to pay attention to what world thinks of you. People are jealous of those who have something. Those who have nothing are laughed upon. So why care about such a world? Be yourself. And then, those who accept you as what you are, are your real friends...Rest all are just there because of some or the other selfish motive.

Thank you for reading, good day! :)