Ever notice how free thinkers tend to have serious public relations problems?
There’s something about human nature that leads us to almost instinctively punish those who step away from the crowd.
To put it another way, conformity is nearly always rewarded while independent thinking is viewed as a threat to established interests.
Because of this, we have powerful incentives to keep unpopular opinions to ourselves, even though they may be correct.
Those who find the courage to live and speak their values, without regard to what others think or say about them, are free in ways that the crowd will never be.
Their willingness to live without the approval of others is not rooted in arrogance or conceit.
Their goal is not to disparage or to ridicule those who don’t share their values.
It’s the product of knowing who they are and what they stand for.
When they get something wrong, they’re free to find a better way.
The folks who rail the hardest against them do so, in part, because the free thinking individual has slipped beyond their control.
Ironically, the influence of those who embrace the freedom of not caring what others think of them is greatly magnified by their willingness to stand alone, when necessary.
Free thinkers are often portrayed as anti-social but the reality is, they are doing everyone around them a gigantic favor.
They are showing that it’s possible to be happy and free, without the approval of others.
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