The Courage to Be Disliked

“freedom is being disliked by other people.”

Once you know how big the world is, you will see that all the hardship you went through in school was a storm in a teacup. The moment you leave the teacup, that raging storm will be gone, and a gentle breeze will greet you in its place.

Living in fear of one’s relationships falling apart is an unfree way to live, in which one is living for other people.

Being praised essentially means that one is receiving judgment from another person as “good.” And the measure of what is good or bad about that act is that person’s yardstick. If receiving praise is what one is after, one will have no choice but to adapt to that person’s yardstick and put the brakes on one’s own freedom.

We are truly aware of our own worth only when we feel that our existence and behavior are beneficial to the community, that is to say, when one feels “I am of use to someone.”

Life is a series of moments, and neither the past nor the future exists. You are trying to give yourself a way out by focusing on the past and the future.

As long as you are dancing, you will get somewhere.

No one knows how you would have felt about it ten years ago. This discussion was something that you needed to hear now.