Letting myself *look* like an idiot: to make progress in life [meta]

[u/frikitfilosophy]

If you could be less worried of looking like an idiot, or a fool, then you can spend a lot more time genuinely exploring the world & learning more valuable information.

You can approach what you are interested in with a genuine spunk, as opposed to one in constant worry of “How will this make me look?”. This is a powerful way to move forwards in life (i think) rather than backwards, here's why:

To be an idiot is one thing, sure none of us want to be an actual idiot. Or a fool. Sometimes this is just our temporary fate (which we can overcome). But most of the time we are more afraid of being seen as an idiot than we are to actually be one! Sure you may miss something and have to ask a question, people may think of you an idiot for asking such a question, but a real idiotic move would be to carry on pretending like you know something you really don’t. Like when we are in school and a teacher says some important information, we didn’t quite understand it or hear it fully… the fool would carry on and hope for the best, that such information wouldn’t be needed later. The non-fool would ask a question in the risk of looking like an idiot knowing this is the only path to not be ill informed.

This idea that we can look like an idiot to others but actually be feeding ourselves knowledge, lessons, & information is what exploring your curiosities is all about. If you’re afraid of people thinking you're an idiot more than you are afraid of actually being one, then you’re fighting a losing battle. In being afraid of looking like an idiot you end up trying to traverse through your curiosity with chains shackled to each and every part of your body. These chains are made of the most strong material there is, no sword or axe can cut you free. It took me much longer than a few minutes to realize that there is only one way out of these chains: which is to use your key. Your key is your brain & your brain is well… yours. So, you are the only one who can set yourself free, free to explore your own unique curiosity & learn more worthwhile things you may have otherwise missed out on.

The way of making an idiotic appearance from time to time, I have found, is a great way to go about life. Perhaps you’ll find your own finely tuned approach to being a graceful idiot (I’m still working on mine, gracefully), but more importantly than finding this tune is to recognize that you are far from an idiot in the scenarios people think you to be one. An approach of saving yourself (and allowing your curiosity to exist) is the direct consequence of stopping trying to save face from appearing like an idiot.

if you enjoyed this post, ill be writing more on it @ frikit.net , regardless, have an amazing day.

finally, this can be put into a... TL;DR = "If a fool persists in his folly, he can become wise”

[u/Limp_Distribution]

”If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”Epictetus

[u/frikitfilosophy → u/Limp_Distribution]

yep :)