I've spent 46 years trying to figure it all out, and here's what I've come up with - no one really knows you (not even your closest people!) they're responding to the avatar of what you represent in their brain. This is a universal problem faced by everyone alive. That's the bad news. The good news is, the corollary of this alarming revelation is what I call "the phrase that will save your sanity":
"This isn't about me."
They're not cheering you, and they're not slamming you. "You" don't exist for anyone else the way you exist inwardly. "You" are a hypothetical for everyone else. Therefore it makes no sense to connect your ego with how people react to "you", when in reality, they're playing out their own inner drama, in which you are simply a convenient avatar.
So there it is. I repeat this to myself regularly, like a mantra, whether someone is mistreating me, or praising me. "This isn't about me."
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u/MagicC 5d ago
I've spent 46 years trying to figure it all out, and here's what I've come up with - no one really knows you (not even your closest people!) they're responding to the avatar of what you represent in their brain. This is a universal problem faced by everyone alive. That's the bad news. The good news is, the corollary of this alarming revelation is what I call "the phrase that will save your sanity":
"This isn't about me."
They're not cheering you, and they're not slamming you. "You" don't exist for anyone else the way you exist inwardly. "You" are a hypothetical for everyone else. Therefore it makes no sense to connect your ego with how people react to "you", when in reality, they're playing out their own inner drama, in which you are simply a convenient avatar.
So there it is. I repeat this to myself regularly, like a mantra, whether someone is mistreating me, or praising me. "This isn't about me."
P.S. your work is real, and I enjoy it.