I love inspiring quotes - especially those of author Paulo Coelho. Little nuggets of wisdom to encourage, strengthen and remind me of the values I hold dear. I read this one yesterday: "If you don't care about what people think,you already passed the first step of success."
Agreed. Being consumed constantly with the way my decisions or actions will be perceived by others would be exhausting - and has been exhausting when I've allowed the horrible insecurity to take hold. Caring about what people think can not only be a detriment to creativity, courage and goals, but it can also lead to a darker path filled with bitter pigeonholing, resentment and finally, hatred. The natural remedy to avoiding all of this is to stop caring what people think - makes sense.
And yet...
It got me thinking. I feel as if expectation does play a role in success. As a daughter, wife, friend and mother, if certain expectations hadn't be established, I would have found myself settling with adequate results or even worse, been okay with regularly giving up. Basic manners were expected of me as a child as was trying my best in school. Loyalty, honesty and virtue is expected of me as a wife. I don't mean to liken the role of expectation to basic obedience (oh, groceries - good dog) but the simple fact is, expectation has pulled me through when I would have been just fine with giving up.
Being able to discern the difference between expectation and judgment as well as maintaining balance between desire to succeed and an empty need to please must also be considered. Caring about success solely based upon what others might think is not the solution, but perhaps rising to the occasion is.
