I’m going to work through people questioning me.  One of the hardest things with reconciling our growth and ego is creating boundaries.  Learning to let go of pleasing others for the sake of our own sanity and peace causes an internal struggle at times because we are so used to doing what others need and being what others need that it can seem selfish or even egotistical if we set a boundary that doesn’t put others first.  When it comes to defending ourselves, our work, and our point of view, there’s also a difficult line between boundary and ego.  We have to be firm and clear with our beliefs.  We have to learn that people can question us and it may have nothing to do with us.  Their questioning us can be about simple curiosity or it can be about their ego—and defending ourselves may have little to do with defending our own ego.

With all that being said, there comes a point where we have to come to grips with the fact that not everyone will agree with what we say.  While we know this is common sense, it can be hard to grapple with in those moments when something is truly meaningful.  We have to work through knowing when to trust ourselves, when to stand our ground, and when to simply let people believe what they want to believe.  It all comes to the context and content of the relationships.  It also comes down to the passion and purpose we feel on the subject as well as the goal of the other person.  As mentioned above, sometimes people are simply curious.  Other times we are faced with people who try to get our goat so to speak. 

If we can master our emotions in order to convey our message with clarity and conviction, that is more than enough.  It doesn’t matter what others think and it doesn’t matter what they ask: if we know what matters and we express ourselves clearly, the right people will find us.  Set the goal not to be liked by everyone.  Make peace with that.  Once we understand what we are capable of attracting and creating, their opinions mean little anyway.  Let go of the ego that says we have to defend ourselves and our opinions at every turn and welcome the conversation that comes from people wanting to know more.  If people are trying to push you, then learn when it’s time to walk away.  Practice these boundaries with ourselves.  Set the goal of knowing that questioning ideas is a good thing and that if someone asks things it opens a dialogue that can make things better.  If it doesn’t, then walk away.