It takes nothing to join the crowd: This inspirational quote from Hans F Hansen is about expressing your individuality, listening to your thoughts and staying strong to the course of action. Let’s ask this question – it takes nothing to join the crowd can you recollect all the significant decisions in your life? Have you done things and questioned yourself – why did I do that? If you have not, then today perhaps is a good opportunity to reflect on yourself slightly and think about what you’d like your life to be.
The truth is – we are all influenced by people around us and something is a great thing. On some other occasions, it also stifles our ability to think and do things that make the most difference to us. Particularly at times where you’ve to make a decision, you’ve got to identify what is motivating your decision – desire or society/peer pressure?
It takes nothing to join the crowd
I’m conscious that I talk a lot about society and its influence on us. Partly this is because it sometimes gets in the way of listening to your own thoughts, emotions and inspirations. Society is a perpetual influence on us and not always in a good way.
What is the meaning of it takes nothing to join the crowd? The quote by Hans F Hansen clearly talks about peer pressure and the social influence in boosting your confidence. Every time, I’ve wanted to do something different, I’ve looked at my friends and peers which has led me to think – maybe I’m doing something wrong because I want to do something different. This quickly navigates into self-talk that says – I might have to change my opinion.
But this raises the ever-so-important question – what is your desire telling you to do? Why have we stopped listening to our desires and talking about them? Perhaps the environment has a way of snubbing our voice which is trying to tell us something. – 12 Quotes on Society to reflect your Individuality
Again, I’ve got nothing against society, but it takes nothing to join the crowd. The crowd likes to generalise people because it is easy to put everyone in a bracket and define them as a collective. It doesn’t care much about your individuality or personal thoughts. And that’s precisely the reason why you have to fight for it because your individuality is the most important thing in your life.
It takes everything to stand alone
The complete quote by Hans F Hansen has two parts – it takes nothing to join the crowd – this is simply because you’ll face no resistance if you want to be like everyone else. The second part states – it takes everything to stand alone – this is because you’ll face resistance from all corners.
In a world constantly trying to make you into someone
The reason is simple you see – no one wants a challenge or to see people who are different. It makes them ask uncomfortable questions about themself. It makes them question whether they’re listening to their own emotions or desires. You see, this is hard work – and the first natural response is to resist something which is different.
It doesn’t mean you’re wrong, but it only means that it takes everything to stand alone. This has got nothing to do with you but with the way people want their life to be – easier to resist than support right? The resistance aids the perpetual culture of following the group.
Maybe there’s nothing wrong with that, but the question I’ll ask is:
Are you being true to yourself? If you listen deeply to your emotions, they always tell you the truth about what you feel and how you want life to be. You at least owe your life that much. It might not all be wonderful and it takes everything to stand alone. But, this is life on your terms. Perhaps it is all worth it or you’ll find a way to make it worth the effort. But don’t just accept defeat before you even start.
It takes nothing to join the crowd, it takes everything to stand alone
Hans F Hansen
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amazing post
Thank you Shruthi :).. Very glad to hear that you liked it.
I would say that joining the crowd most of the time works for everyone because we fairly have an idea of the rise and fall, the outcomes etc but when you bravely take an offbeat decision and chose to walk on that path, then of course you are bound to face all kinds of surprises in life which might sometimes stress you, not stress you, make you feel proud not make you feel proud…can be just about anything.
Personally, I followed the herd… until date I regret. Had I followed my abilities, I would have been at a better place and space. Yes, then of course grass is always greener on the other side. So, are we ever satisfied??? That is another discussion altogether.
Ha ha, I completely hear the decision dilemma Anjana. I suppose that’s something which makes decision points so pivotal and influential. I went through something very similar during my early days of entrepreneurship.
The data points of joining the herd are indeed very valuable. We know where it can lead to, the risks are low and returns are fairly predictable. Although there will be challenges in the process, we can still bank on collective experience of people around us and get together. And this is perfectly reasonable if this is the journey we want to take.
The flip side with decisions is what we stand to lose by going away from the crowd. I think that’s something which makes decisions really hard and complicated. I do agree – grass is always greener on the other side. The best answer I’ve known for that is – we will never know. We only know what we have with us and what we really strongly feel for. I suppose we all have a gut and maybe that gut needs a bit of training to make sure its voice is clearly heard.
End of the day, a decision is a point to move ahead from. We cannot afford to take it more seriously than it deserves. Then again this leads me to the book – Don’t sweat the small stuff, it is all the small stuff :D .. So the dilemma continues.
Humour aside, I think there is a lot of value in establishing the awareness about our own selves and taking charge of that. These decision points will always be present. With each decision we take, we get better at it regardless of whether it is with the crowd or away from it. We will definitely base our future decisions on some of the past ones.
Now I am wondering if I have gone all over the place as I type this reply :D .. Would love to know your thoughts.