CONTRARIAN AND CAST OUT

 To others it appears that we like to be independent and free thinkers, we create our own philosophy out of life and refuse to be followers.  We don’t care about going to the right clubs, meeting the right people, dressing conventionally, doing what our friends like to do, mimicking what celebrities say is important, and following the latest trends as seen on television.

Instead it is a natural force coming from deep inside us to make us feel special and different from the rest. We feel attracted by our own philosophy of how the world really works, we tend to dismiss most fads as trivial and silly, and if lots of people become involved in a new cause célèbre you quickly become sick of hearing about it.

If you resemble the description above, that means you are a true contrarian like me. A contrarian is a person who always says the opposite of what is popular or popularly believed. Refusing to imitate the masses when it comes to buying car, selecting a movie or even buying a certain stocks knowing that everyone else is selling them.

A contrarian is also a person who takes up a contrary a position that is opposed to that of the majority, without caring what others think.  In addition, you can be a contrarian by refusing to live a boring life by simply trying to blend in with others and desperately trying to belong to a group for fear of being cast out or ostracized.

We classic contrarians are always ready to say what is truly on our minds and not afraid to offer a true opinion on a topic. I think my true nature is to be a contrarian but does not automatically label me as a troublemaker. I just think my basic instinct is to automatically oppose anything that appears conventional.  I like to act as a free thinker in this world and not defined by other people, family members or cultural influences.

I like having my own opinions and being a counter intuitive person gives me a different perspective on life and the opportunity to use my beliefs and imagination.   Just being myself, being creative and having my own opinions enhances my self-esteem. And it does not cause harm to others by simply disagreeing with them.

I enjoy having a balance between analytical thinking and creative contrarian thinking which has helped me to get through some of the biggest tsunamis in my life. For my own sake and never with the intention of raising eyebrows, I feel more confortable managing my own opinions and try to see life from other angles. The best way to explore reality is by developing your imagination so that you can see life from many different vantage points without reducing it to popular beliefs and narrows way of thinking.

Knowing that the world is not always perfect, I have not always made the right decisions and sometimes I have made the wrong choices but in general I have always had sound moral principles and a good sense of responsibility.   This makes me feel confident about my personal philosophy of living and comfortable in my own skin.  If others don’t like what I say, how I dress, my political views or whom I choose to be friends with then I simply shrug and I say I simply don’t care. It’s their problem that they only want to “fit in” and not mine.

I have developed an art to being a contrarian in a conventional thinking world just simply by not accepting what society dictates as the norm but I do it without insulting or harming others. They do have a right to live their lives the way they want to. It just won’t be as interesting or as much fun.

Yilva Kalmanson