Have you felt the weight of a hundred eyes on you? Not during a performance or when you are on stage, but simply when you go through your daily life.
When you stand in a crowd or a room full of people, do you feel as if your every movement is being watched, judged and analysed by all of the people around you? Do you find that being around too many people at once is stifling or frightening?
A lot of young people, especially teenagers, feel the same way. They find it difficult to socialise or talk to new people because they feel uncomfortable in such situations. All humans are social beings. We have always found ourselves living and working together in groups since the beginning of time, and being isolated for long periods can be seriously damaging to a person’s mental health. So, it is not difficult to understand that those young people who seem so anxious in public do not fear people, but instead, the judgement of those people.
Alexander III, commonly known to us as Alexander the Great, shared a special bond with his horse, named Bucephalus. There is an interesting story about how Bucephalus came to be owned by Alexander. Bucephalus was a gift to Alexander’s father, who was the king at that time. Unfortunately, it was found that the horse was quite violent and injured anyone who tried to tame him. After many people tried and failed, oftentimes becoming seriously hurt, to tame the horse, attempting to do so had become seemingly useless. Alexander, however, had made an interesting observation about the horse and assured his father that he could tame it. Despite several warnings about the danger of such a task, he went towards the horse and gently steered it to face the sun. Suddenly, the horse was no longer violent. To everyone’s surprise, Alexander mounted the horse easily, and he soon developed a strong bond with him. Alexander’s interesting observation was that the horse was not violent in nature, but simply afraid of his own shadow. Thus, turning him to face the sun prevented him from seeing his shadow, and he was no longer afraid. Alexander went on to conquer several kingdoms on Bucephalus’ back. There are paintings and sculptures depicting the bond between the two that exist to this day.
We may occasionally find ourselves frightened in new situations, but what we do not realise is that most of the things we fear do not really exist. If you are in a room full of people, would you look at any one person, watch them and judge them for no apparent reason? Why, then, do we feel that others would do the same to us?
We fear judgement from others to the extent that it prevents us from being ourselves and achieving what we can. Fear of judgement stifles our creativity and reduces the power and control that we have over ourselves. When we start making decisions based on what others might think of us, we can easily lose ourselves and our originality. Most of the people around us are too busy going through their own lives to stop and question the choices of others, so it is imperative that we build ourselves with values that matter to us, and stick to those values no matter how many people seem to be watching.
Sometimes the fears that keep us stuck in one place are just shadows. Turn around and face the sun, look at the things that truly matter, and you just might find yourself conquering kingdoms.
