Do you ever just hear something and it actually speaks to you? It could literally be a one liner and after you hear the words, you feel like you’ve taken a hit to the chest. Or, it could be that one liner that puts everything into perspective for you.
The feelings that you’ve been struggling to identify, come to the surface and it all could suddenly make sense to you. You feel like the modern-day Albert Einstein because oh my gosh, you’ve cracked the code.
For me, the one liner that put my feelings into perspective was, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
It made me stop and think, “Oh damn, that’s it, Joe.” Joe as in Joseph from the Princess Diaries; what a wise man. Although, it was first lady Eleanor Roosevelt who said that initially. Joe then repeats it in the movie to Mia when he notices that Lily has put her down because of what has changed with her, like her newly straightened hair. Thank you to the Princess Diaries crew who put that into the movie and opened my eyes.
What Joe and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt meant when they said this was that you allow yourself to feel belittled by people who try to feel superior to you. We have the power to choose how we allow people and their words to affect us, or if they even affect us at all.
For instance, some people are extremely vocal about their opinions, in terms of disagreeing with another and making others feel bad for their way of thinking because of it. If you’re the person that they don’t agree with, you’re probably getting spewed at with angered word vomit, while they make you feel bad for thinking the way that you do. But everyone thinks differently and that’s okay; it should be that way! In that kind of situation, you’d be allowing yourself to feel smaller and less knowledgeable on the topic just because you aren’t as vocal.
There will be people that are close to you that will intimidate you. Honestly, most of the time they’re that close to you because they have that kind of hold over you. They have something in them that, in your mind, makes them appear to be stronger than you.
Here’s a little secret; you have something on them that they don’t have. We’re all human with different traits, characteristics and confidence in different features of ourselves.
Don’t ever allow anyone to put you down and make you feel small because of your choices or decisions. They’re your decisions and it’s your life; own it, be proud and shine on like Princess Mia!