Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self Reliance

507 Words2 Pages

In the society that we live in today almost everyone conforms into what society thinks that they should look like, how they should act, and what they should like to do with their lives. To trust oneself, it means that you trust that the decision you are making is the right decision for you and it doesn’t matter what other people think. To trust oneself it takes a tremendous amount of confidence. In a society where there is so much pressure to conform, it would take a very strong and resilient person to go against the grain of what is the norm.
The thing the stands in the way of people trusting themselves is the thought of what other people might think of their choices, or the second guessing that is forced upon them because of the pressure of society. The thought of doing something different than what is expected …show more content…

As Emerson stated in “Self Reliance”, “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after your own,”. What Emerson means is, if one is in solitude it is much easier to live according to your own opinion because one is by themselves and no one gets a say when it comes to the decision one makes. This is because they are alone and they become forced to do what they think is right for themselves. If one does not trust themselves when they are in solitude, they will have no way of doing what they feel is right because they will second guess everything that they do. When someone is alone, I believe that the real person that they are is revealed and they are only making decisions for themselves. Emerson also states “The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude,”. What Emerson means is that although in most cases, solitude brings out one’s true self, it takes a very resilient person to be able to trust themselves as they would if they were in solitude while in the midst of

Open Document