Reading through the comments here. This is a multi-faceted issue. Yeah, it's fine to stick to your guns and be you. But clearly, the problem is, what if you, aren't the norm? What if you, being yourself, means that you're alone? That you become a minority surrounded by the majority? I have been shown, practically, from day one, that being me, was wrong. Being me was strange, unusual, whatever you want to call it. If it was bad, it was me. Naturally, as other commentors have already said, this drives one to be introverted, ironically, making them even more of a stranger and an oddity to the majority. What they are saying, is right. There is no winning with people. Be an introvert? You're strange. People's own insecurities take root and they somehow believe that you think you're above them for not talking, or perhaps avoiding eye contact and drifting off into space. Retaliate in any form? And you become an insensitive asshole. You can't win. But, what you can do, is learn to discard people. Learn and understand how truly irrelevant they are to you. Pursue your own self interests and remove any who are in your way, out of the way. Never let them stand in your way. I seem to walk a rather blurred line these days. I heavily dislike people. 90% of them at least. I acknowledge that are decent people out there. And I carry a rule with me that I always try to abide by. Never create the misfortunes I experienced from other people, and project it onto others. Never, ever create it. But, the truest, best way, to be you, is to pursue it in solitude in the company of yourself, and if you can by some chance, manage to find another like minded individual, with them at your side as well. People en masse are irrelevant. Friends and many friends are irrelevant. It's better to be on your own, or in very close tight knit bonds with people you can trust, a significant other, or family, than it is to be amongst crowds. Being open and you in crowds makes you a target. But being open in the sanctum of your own privacy away from people, makes you free. The only hard part for anybody like me, or the people in this thread in similiar scenarios, is finding the one person you can trust, who shares your unique nature and mindset, and wants to share it with you. The only thing I can say to that, is that sometimes the things that mean the most take time. But ultimately, what changes in your life is up to you. You call every shot. If you want to change your nature, then it's you that will have to fight for it. Nobody will ever help you but yourself, always. They might give a hand and a pointer in the right direction. But it's always, you, who decides when to change or act. And learning to discard the greater majority in your life is a step. One of many to learn. It's all a part of walking an extremely fine line, of being yourself when you're able to, not caring about the greater majority and what they think, but also keeping the peace and avoiding conflict. It takes time to learn.