Today, I wish to talk specifically about the book, ‘The courage to be disliked’ by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi’. I have been in awe of this book because the Adlerian perspective of psychology discussed in this book has introduced a significant change in my neuroplasticity of thought in my daily perception of life.
The one concept, which has been stuck with me is the conversation around ‘Desire for Recognition’ in this book. It talks about a hard to accept, and harder to implement perspective towards it. It says that ‘desire for recognition’ restricts our individual freedom. It bounds us to the chains of appealing aspects of the social construct, and disables us to follow our childlike confidence. It associates our temptations towards, being recognised by others more than ourselves.
However, in today’s world, that is the new paradigm. We need to make ourselves recognisable to excel. A life of social media sustains and feeds on recognition and superficial appreciation, rather than deep connectivity of the self. And I personally am not a critique of these modern features of the society as I do recognise its perks as well, but where do we draw the line? I am not sure myself, but in such predicaments I usually cave in to associating balance to the situation.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this!