Nuance in a Polarised World
The following is a list of truisms about myself. Social media has trained us to hide our flaws and hope to God no one ever finds them, but we’re all flawed. The point of this blog is to showcase how a person has nuance; we are a combination of beliefs, flaws and anxieties. You will not agree with everything I have posted here, but that’s the point. Again and again, the online world tells us we have to join teams and stay in those camps, and it’s not true. It’s very bad for our minds to think in simple-rigid ways about very complex things. We’re all different, we’re all flawed, and that’s fine. Enjoy!
Everyone deserves to be their definition of happy.
When I’m anxious I don’t know which words to say so I often say them all.
I can be quite arrogant and very insecure at the same time. This is a recipe for a confident public self and quite an anxious private self.
Sometimes I don’t think people think for themselves; it worries me sometimes that individual thought is now considered offensive.
I think abortion is wrong but that all women should make that choice for themselves.
There might be a God but it’s not taking attendance. Religion is designed to sedate you.
The idea that human thought can be reduced to a binary ‘left and right’ is nonsense. You are not a singular opinion so your opinions should not be a singular ideologue.
I always try to say what I deeply believe but I do enjoy being a contrarian at times. Sometimes the best way to make a point is to show how ridiculous the opposite point is.
I think one of the most important things we should do is raise questions about highly accepted norms and opinions.
Words are important. Choose them wisely.
Terms like toxic masculinity/femininity are divisive by definition, and distort meaning via linguistic association. There are toxic behaviours, not toxic gender characteristics.
I don’t think anyone should be made to do anything they do not wish to do. Bodily autonomy is important in all contexts.
Often I am jealous. I try my best to have it manifest as self-improvement but sometimes it makes me bitter.
I think that being honest with yourself and others is the easiest way to lead a good life. IT also means you don’t have to remember anything.
Voltaire put it best when he said “Doubt is uncomfortable but certainty is ridiculous.” It’s essential that we question our own beliefs and opinions.
I think that loneliness is my default setting a lot of the time.
I accept my flaws. Some of them are not easy to live with, other ones are the things people enjoy about me. And other ones again are the reason some people don’t like me at all.
I can be emotionally unavailable. Sometimes I find it hard to express any emotion at all.
I often run from things because of a fear of being vulnerable.
My version of honestly is blunt and stoic which means I can often come across as cold. I’m not cold; I just think that the truth is more important than how we feel about it.
I think people should be exactly who they want to be and if they want to change who they are then, as adults, they should be allowed to make that decision.
People’s opinion of me shouldn’t matter but they often do. Sometimes it’ll irk me for days that someone I haven’t spoken to in years opts out all of a sudden. Other time I won’t care at all.
I think it’s important that we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Life is short and random so it should be lived with the same energy.
If I disagree with you I will tell you but that doesn’t mean I’ll dislike you. In that sense I am outspoken but not unreasonable.
I can be self-righteous sometimes. I do my best to remind myself that I am not without faults.
There is an ego here. There is an ego everywhere. Sometimes it gets loud.
There are times when I want to be right more than I want the truth. They don’t come often but they do come for all of us.
I don’t have all the answers. I think in certain patterns and some of them are without a doubt flawed. I accept that and am willing to learn. My worry is that this mindset isn’t as common as it should be.
Like everyone else, I just take days as they come.
I’m cynical about the short-term and very optimistic about the long-term. Some days these reverse.
Above all, I’m at least trying to be better tomorrow than I am today. That’s the most any of us can ask for. I always muse that bad people don’t worry about whether they’re bad, and I worry about whether I’m a bad person every single day. I hope that means I’m at least moving in the right direction.
We’ll disagree on some things. We’ll agree on a lot more. Whatever the case, I wish for good mental health for everyone, whether we get on or not. You deserve to be happy, and I won’t deny you that based on our relationship.
Noam Chomsky said this about free speech: “If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”
The same is true for good mental health.
Drink water,
