Do I look back or look away?

Some time back, I was reading an article that mentioned a quote by American author, Isaac Asimov:

Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.

Isaac Asimov

It is a very simple, but a meaningful statement. This prompted me to wonder what assumptions we function on in our lives. While some might be useful, others might be harmful. Regardless, the nature of any assumption is never true. It is only circumstantial. For example, the assumption that doing a Ph.D. will help your career will be useful only until a few years. If you keep working on your Ph.D. thesis for 10 years and assume it will help you, then you’re making harmful assumptions and halting your career. Among common assumptions, we also assume that everyone we see, meet, or, speak with, is judging us or critiquing us. While some may be doing that, most of them are not really interested. Think about it in this way: How many people do you judge and retain in your memory over the course of the day? I am sure you forgot about the neighbor you greeted in the morning, while that neighbor wonders if he was judged for stepping out with food stuck in his teeth.

So I had a thought:

While the world looks at me today,
Do I look back or look away?

While the world looks at me today,
Do I look back or look away?

Looking at, thinking of, forgetting about, or judging me,
Each more worrying than the other three.

Do I look right, or am I a misfit?
Would I be outwitted, or judged by my outfit?

I look away when I am looked at,
To save myself from mental combat.

I wonder if it is worth a try,
To look the next person in the eye.

But the idea of staring judgement in the face,
Messes strongly with my headspace.

So, while the world looks at me today,
Do I look back or look away?

The solution was not tough,
But the implementation was rough.

When I saw that some looked, and others looked away,
I realized that they also thought the same way.

All of us living the same dilemma every single time,
Deciding which one of the solutions is the crime.

Time to put an end to these nightmares,
And face the truth that nobody cares.

While you wonder if they judge you,
They are wondering the same too.

At the end of the day none of these matters,
When the illusion of comfort shatters.

The number of lives you affect and touch,
The world will remember only that much.

Choose to choose yourself every day, but also remember that the world doesn’t revolve around you. Life is circumstantial and will remain that way. The point is to be in resonance with it, not compete with it. Point to ponder?

Stay mystified! Stay detoxified! Stay Priya-fied!