This week, I came across this quote by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer: “We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.”
The line stuck in my head because of a response from a reader to my last column on the tendency to keep busy or useful to fit in and attain admiration and respect from others (“Being kinder to yourself doesn’t mean you’re being self-indulgent”, The Star, March 19, 2023). The reader wrote: “I’ve always been a high achiever. It makes me feel like everyone else since many people in our culture strive to achieve. But at the same time, I also feel burned out and stressed even though I try to keep this hidden.”
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