Being misunderstood by strangers is the price of being specific.

REFLECTION

WHAT THIS MEANS

The more precisely you are yourself, the fewer people will get you at a glance. Specific tastes, specific humour and specific convictions do not compress into the few seconds a stranger gives you, so you will be misread fairly often. That is the cost of being legible to the right people instead of vaguely acceptable to everybody.

Decide whose understanding you actually need, which is a shorter list than it feels. Stop explaining yourself to people who were never going to read carefully. Spend the explaining on the few who are paying attention and let the strangers have the rough version.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Where do strangers consistently misread you?

MORE IN MINDSET & IDENTITY

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