You're Not Picky If You Have Standards

It’s generally not a good thing to be picky. It means you’re choosy, difficult to satisfy, and kind of closed minded. Picky people aren’t fun to be around because they come off as smug and even selfish at times. Whether you’re picky about the food you eat, the people you are attracted to, or the way you organize your environment, it can be perceived a certain way by others if it comes off as picky.

But making choices and having preferences is important, and it’s all about how you choose to relate with them. If you have reasons to justify why you like certain things a certain way, then it becomes a standard for you. Standards help you stand up for yourself and how you want things to be in your life. Standards establish what you think you’re worthy of and what you’re willing to tolerate. When you’re picky it comes off as a superficial preference, you want things a certain way ‘just because’, but when you have standards those same preferences become valid because you have experience to back them up. Having standards is a strong display of confidence, and I think we all want to get better at raising the standards we live by.

Do you know what you want in a partner? Good! Do you have an early bedtime that your friends sometimes don’t understand? So what! Embrace your preferences but also know what informs them. Enforce the way you want the world to be around you while also staying open minded to new information that might change your expectations. As long as you continue to view things with a lens of curiosity, you won’t be picky because you aren’t so rooted in your own ways. You’ll have justified, well-intended standards that you live by.

To integrate this idea into your life today I’m going to leave you this question - Where do you think you should have higher standards?

Shoutout to my buddy Case Kenny for the inspiration behind today's thought.

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