Phun-size Philosophy # 53 – Tough Skin

Every single action or event in life will have some type of impact on you and your life. The reaction an individual has based upon this stimulus is all dependent upon said individual’s personality. There are multiple ways to deal with a given situation such as bottling up the emotions that one can feel. If you take this approach though you will inevitably start developing secrets and deep dark hidden thoughts and feelings and if it does continue drastically you may lose the ability to connect with others on a deeper level either by choice or by habit. If you choose this path I believe that there is a term called “tough skinned” that can apply to you. By being tough skinned, it means you don’t let your environment influence you a lot. The one of the benefits to this is that you keep the negatives out of your life. The world is filled with evils and if you don’t get fazed by them, they would be detrimental to your lifestyle. There are plenty of things that I wouldn’t want to be introduced to like war and inhumane and criminal acts that occur in everyday life. By being tough skinned it also means that you for the most part keep others out of your life. You probably either completely ignore those that are in your social network or you may just exclude yourself completely from all your relationships. This is one negative of what being tough skinned can do for you and sometimes it is necessary to share and relate to others. In life you can’t do everything on your own and in almost every situation you can accomplish so much more by working with others like in teams. Getting along with everyone in your surroundings is imperative for success in the future. If you help others you will then have a shoulder to lean on for support and reinforcement that allows you to feel comfort and reassurance. There’s no right or wrong way to live your life and nobody can tell you differently so being tough skinned or not isn’t necessarily good or bad. It is up to you and if you do leave yourself vulnerable to external factors you have the potential to be hurt by those around you. If you let your relationships affect those feelings instrumental to happiness, you leave yourself open to being harmed. The positive spin to this is that those relationships provide meaning in life and they are the key to a happy and successful future.

-Allan Nicholas