My entire life, I have been a loner, a hermit, and a social outcast. Always unable to "fit in," I long ago gave up trying to be with other people, resolved to just "be myself," and at times to actually revel in my outsider status.
As long as I can remember, people have told me that the secret to making friends is to just "be yourself," and people will like you for who you are, instead of trying to pretend to be something that you are not.
And, for the most part, I have always followed that advice.
But a nagging doubt has always been there in the background, that I am giving voice to here for the first time... what if "being yourself" means being someone that people generally don't like? I'm not being cheeky here, just wondering if there isn't a flaw in the logic of "being one's self" as the key to good relationships?
If one's true self is the kind of person that is curmudgeonly, or unpleasant, or negative, or just plain unlikeable... doesn't that belie the idea that people liking you for who you are is sometimes untrue, that sometimes, you must suppress your true self and pretend to be something you are not in order to get along with others? That you may have to choose to be alone in order to be yourself, or choose to be something insincere in order to have companionship?
Just a random thought on a Sunday morning....
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