Up to this point I've talked about my beliefs as well as why I hate groupthink. I want to discuss with you now why I believe being contrarian has helped me grow.
I can remember the first debate I participated in during my economics class. I had to defend raising tax rates. Quite a task for myself as my personal beliefs at the time didn't exactly mesh too well with this theory. Not only was I ill-prepared, I was 100% uncomfortable with speaking in crowds. My grade definitely reflected that fact.
We only become what we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us.- Jean-Paul Sartre
I look back now and see myself wasting a valuable opportunity to learn and grow from that experience. Even if I didn't agree with the discoveries I would've uncovered, I still could have used that knowledge as a way to further increase my side of the argument. I get it, entering the beginning stages of contrarian thinking is downright frightening. While it's frightening, I can say with full confidence that I've noticed something happening within my mindset. I've noticed I've become more confident with my viewpoints. I've witnessed this because I'm conducting more research on topics I'm not 100% sure I know about. While I gain more knowledge on the subject (see this post) I start to realize, I've thought this way for awhile, I just didn't know how to express my thoughts clearly.
It's funny what can happen when you start to have more confidence in your viewpoints, even if they are different. I've noticed more people listening when I speak because I'm more confident in what I'm saying. I've even noticed a few of you following this blog ask me for my next post. All of this has come to help me realize that maybe thinking differently isn't so bad after all. As I've said before and will certainly say again, don't stymie your creativity by simply accepting the status quo.
Please feel free to share these posts and also to comment below. I look forward to hearing from you!
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