Is everyone looking at you?

The first time I watched this (for many of you, that may have been Psychology class) I couldn’t believe that I didn’t notice the gorilla.

Let me relate this video to your day-to-day life and the common challenge for many.

So many of us are paralyzed by fear of what others think of us. We feel that people are judging intensely our every word, move, outfit, hairstyle, chest pound, etc.

Living a front row life is only possible when we act with courage. Interestingly, courage is often rooted in being vulnerable. What stands in the way of acting with courage is the fear of judgment. Here are examples…

Example 1: There was an experiment done that involved a guy wearing a ridiculous t-shirt who was sent out to talk with strangers.

When the guy was asked how he felt talking to people, he responded, “I felt like an idiot and I’m sure everybody thought I was insane.”

When they asked the people he spoke what they remembered about the conversation or what whether or not they could recall what he was wearing, almost nobody remembered the shirt at all.

Example 2: I remember hearing about a guy who bombed a speech in front of a big crowd. I mean it was terrible. The speaker left the stage thinking their career was ruined, and reputation shot. But what actually happened was that 90% of the audience couldn’t tell you the guys name, topic or anything else significant. In other words, to the person on stage bombing, their perceived reality was far from the reality of the audience itself.

What I’m about to say next will sound harsh, so take this in context–Most people don’t care about you as much as you think they do! And that’s a good thing. It’s time to let go of your fear of judgment and just take action.

On the flipside, I could also argue the point that there are others that care about you a lot more than you acknowledge. We just have to give our attention to the right people. 

When we’re on the dance floor of life, we think everyone is watching us, but they’re not. Someone might be staring at you, but it’s likely someone thinking, “I wish I had the courage to get out there and let loose like that!”

 I implore you to be bold in your life.

Sure somebody may judge you.

Somebody may laugh at you.

Be bold anyway.