Being Human, Being Real

Trying to perceive how I am viewed by others is a losing battle that is just not worth the energy. People will think about you on the basis of how they view the world, their limiting beliefs and how they feel about themselves. In this regard, there are as many versions of I, Anannya that exist as the number of people that I have met. Yet, in the damned world we live in, narratives are build and humans are categorized. Why?

Psychology

Humans are generally wired to establish mental models that guide expectations and explain how situations should unfold. If I am of personality A then I do what A people do. If i attempt to pivot, I fear alienation. So i am put into a neat little tidy box. Life becomes one-dimensional, predictable. These models are influenced by past experiences, experiences described by others, personal and cultural biases, social norms, education,
emotional states, media exposure, peer pressure, cognitive abilities, personality traits, and even seemingly insignificant factors such as mood or environmental conditions.

Assumptions
Our brain is constantly trying to complete an incomplete picture of reality by filling in the blanks based on past experiences and biases. Two common examples that are particularly bad for managing expectations are projected assumptions and assumed mind reading. Projected assumptions are where we assume an observed behaviour is associated with a particular reason based on our own past experiences. The thought process tends to be something like the following:


Am i not allowed to express my multitudes, my contradictions without being judged?