On Politeness

I think I need to be a little bit less polite.

As long as I can remember, politeness has been a top priority, particularly in the interest of making life easier and more comfortable for the people around me. This isn’t entirely selfless – I do take a lot of transitive happiness from the positive vibes I inspire. But in doing so, I often defer to other peoples’ needs and desires over my own, and this makes my needs and desires feel less important by comparison.

I’d like to have more inherent confidence that my needs are important – that’s a meta-need I’m just now noticing. This sort of confidence feels like something I can practice: if I apply conscious intention in the present moment, this mindset will more easily stick around in my subconscious.

My basic understanding of the world should include a deep-seated belief that my needs are inherently valuable. I’m going to work on intentionally manifesting that mindset, and I think this means I need to be a little bit less polite.