I think everyone, even the most seemingly put-together and
confident of people, get a little self-conscious at times. It is a natural thing, and shouldn’t always
have a negative connotation. In certain
situations, being aware of yourself and how you are being perceived by others
is very important. However, I have
realized that there are some things that I (and I’m sure others) get
self-conscious about that are completely pointless when you really think about
it.
1) Being “alone” in public places. I was sitting in the student union the other
day watching the Reds game by myself. Now
I didn’t go there with the purpose of watching it alone; I was waiting for a
friend to meet me. While I was waiting,
however, I was SO uncomfortable. I kept
looking around seeing if anyone was watching me, playing with my phone to keep
busy, and thinking to myself, “People probably think I’m such a weirdo sitting
alone watching baseball.” HOW FREAKING
STUPID IS THAT. First of all, it is kind
of egotistical on my part to think that anyone even cared that I was sitting
there. Most people probably didn’t
notice me, and if they did they probably didn’t give me a second thought. Second of all, even if someone did notice me
sitting alone and think that I must not have any friends, why does it matter? I know that I have friends, and that doesn’t
change whether or not some random person thinks I do.
2) Singing in the car. Now
this one may just be me, but I seriously love nothing more than blaring some diva
ballads in my car and trying my best to hit those ungodly high notes (Leona
Lewis- Bleeding Love, anyone?) But as
soon as I get to a stoplight, I shut right up, because there are cars around me
and I am sitting there for an extended amount of time during which they could notice me singing, heaven forbid. I have even gone so far as to pull out my phone and hold it to my ear at a stoplight
so I could continue singing, and then if anyone saw me moving my mouth they might
think I was talking on the phone. Side
note- I’m pretty sure it’s pretty easy to tell if someone is singing rather than talking, and those people that saw me probably just wondered who the unlucky
person was being serenaded on the other end.
But seriously, WHO CARES if someone notices me singing my little head
off in the car having a grand ol’ time?
I will likely never see any of those people again in my life, and if
anything maybe it’ll make them smile.
3) Dancing. If you’ve seen the tall girl problems post, you’ve seen how wonderful I look when I’m dancing. And after I see pictures like this of myself,
I start to think, “Maybe I shouldn’t dance in public; my ostrich limbs flailing
about cannot be enjoyable to look at.”
But you know who looks the WORST dancing? People just standing there, bobbing their
head looking uncomfortable. You know who
looks the best? People who look like
they’re having fun, regardless of their talent level.
A
little story from that day I was watching baseball… Later that day one of my girl friends who was
in the student union came up to me and said, “Wow, I saw you sitting by
yourself watching baseball and I was like, ‘I bet guys think she is such a hot
girl just watching baseball there by herself.’”
I responded, “Um, are you kidding me? I was so nervous sitting there and
felt like such a loser and not a ‘hot girl’ at all!” So in reality, even though I wasn’t thinking
very highly of myself, someone around me was admiring me. Rather than assume the worst of what others
must be thinking about you, try every once in a while to assume that they think
you’re pretty cool. Or at the very
least, be practical and realize that they probably aren’t thinking about you at
all. It will help rid your mind of the
useless worries and help you project confidence that will attract attention for
the right reasons.
-S
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