for the majority of people, speaking up in a group while everyone else remains silent is too scary. thus, most people decide not to. however, rebels seem to be pretty confident in sharing a different, sometimes even unpopular, perspective.
appearances can be deceptive: going against the grain also scares most rebels. but their urge to speak up is much stronger than their willingness to belong to the group, so they can’t help themselves.
over the years, rebels have often dealt with uncomfortable situations and have gotten used to them. they learned to embrace the feeling of discomfort, and the more often they felt awkward, the less scarier it got.
if you look at the stages of discomfort, you’ll see it’s not black and white (comfortable versus uncomfortable), but there are some shades of grey:
everyone can train themselves to be more comfortable with being uncomfortable. the more you get into situations that make you uneasy, the easier it becomes. just start small, and each time you take one step further. with this approach, you expand your inner circles.
you can practice to embrace discomfort with this easy 3-step exercise:
do you have a burning question for dr rebel?