No one but you sets your standards

I love 🫶🏽 this one because it’s a reset & reminder to not gaf about others’ opinions, no matter how loud.

In life we’re gonna encounter loud, quiet, pushy and all sorts of people. And if you spend time with them, you’re likely to be influenced in some way.

Your standards are yours to maintain, change and set higher for yourself.

In a way it’s so freeing when you think about it. We are in control, and who cares what the person next to or around you thinks. It’s not always that easy, and as humans we care. But we can aspire to filtering unnecessary influence.

When you can reach this point where you know your standard limits so clearly, it becomes second nature in interactions to recognise the lines.

Sure we also have rules and standards enforced on us by society, they’re hard to avoid and even those are sometimes best broken.

The loud ones. You’re gonna bump up against people who think they know best, proclaim their level of cool or authority or talk the loudest.

They’re likely the most insecure in the room.

Insecurity maybe rooted in many things such as fear of peer pressure, embarrassment, jealousy, confusion or just lack of clear direction or experience. How those manifest in behaviours also reveals a person’s standards.

But you set your own standards. You maintain them and when you waver, you are the one that decides how far into the grey zone you go.

You, and you alone manage your standards.

When we find ourselves too deep in the grey and warnings are going off, it’s our choice to continue or not and our limits and triggers will be different to the next person.

Like anyone, I let my standards slip at times. I pull myself back and sometimes when doing so, realise I’ve let more than one standard slip against my values. This I think, is the constant effort of self discipline. We’re human, we’re gonna screw up, so correct course and move forward.

Reset, remind yourself of your standards and values. And in doing so, free yourself from the external influence.

Your standards are yours.