I’m not a fan of being weird just to be weird. But I do believe there are some social taboos we have that aren’t necessarily worth keeping. Trying to stay within these social norms makes many people unhappy or feel unnecessary pressure.
Here are a few social taboos I think are totally worth ignoring.
1. Unfriending someone who makes your life miserable.
If someone continually leaves trollish comments on your social media posts, you should be able to delete them from your friends list – even if it’s your aunt or best friend from elementary school. If you must, give them a warning that their comments are lame first, but then if they don’t change, drop them like a bad habit.
Social media doesn’t need to be the political game it has become. Rip them off like a bandaid and move on.
2. Saying no to someone who guilted you into something.
I used to hate saying no. Unfortunately, what happened when I said yes was that I did whatever was asked of me with a bad attitude. Someone asked me to volunteer for something, and I didn’t do it with all my heart. I also dreaded the moment I would have to do what I got signed up for.
Why not just say no in the first place? I’m not saying that you turn into one of those people that always says no when someone asks for help. But I am saying train yourself to be able to say no so you feel even better when you say yes.
3. Hanging out with someone your friends don’t like.
You know that person you like, even though all of your friends don’t like them? I’m not talking about a loser boyfriend or that friend who’s a total bad influence on you. I’m talking about the person whose personality just doesn’t jive with your other friends’. Well, hang out with them anyways.
A true friend will never tell you who you should or who you shouldn’t hang out with. Even though you might feel the pressure, push through it and hang out with them anyways. You need that different perspective and personality in your life.
4. Telling that person who intimidates you that you want to be their friend.
Remember when you were a kid? You went over to that kid in your neighborhood and asked them if they wanted to play. Then you were friends.
Somewhere along the line, friendship got harder than that. Maybe it was rejection we experienced in high school. But I’m convinced that friendship as adults should be that easy. We should just identify someone we think is cool then ask them to be friends. Take them out for coffee or invite them over for dinner. What if you didn’t keep your cards so close to your chest and actually asked someone to hang out?
5. Standing up to an authority for your friend.
Got a friend who’s getting taken advantage of? What if you risked your own butt and stood up for them? That’s not the social norm, but it’s awesome. Who doesn’t want a friend who would do that for them? Imagine being that type of friend.
I wish more people would break these social taboos. Life would be much more chill and friends would be much better.
So what’s a social taboo you think people should start breaking? Chime in with a comment below!