The world constantly forces a binary choice upon us: Will you become an ordinary part of the "mainstream" by conforming to the system, or will you become a special "outsider" by defying the crowd? The media subtly coaxes us down erratic paths, framing the mainstream as cowardly followers and outsiders as lonely heroes.
However, this dichotomy is nothing more than a cowardly word game. What truly matters is not the location of the path you walk, but rather the "state of your own self walking that path." If you tread the outsider’s path yet still crave the gaze and validation of others, that life is just another empty husk. Conversely, even if you walk the massive mainstream path, that life belongs entirely to you as long as it is the result of your own fierce contemplation and choice.
Ultimately, there is only one essential question: "Is this choice I am standing on right now truly my own?"
The Difference Between Drifting with the Mainstream and Choosing It
What we must guard against is not a "mainstream life" itself. It is a "life of inertia"—living as if swept away by a riptide simply because everyone else does, without a shred of doubt, because anything else brings anxiety. Running along a track laid out by the system with your own will severed is merely living the life of the system instead of your own, no matter how lavish the vested interests you enjoy.
Yet, even when following the crowd and walking the mainstream path, there is a lifestyle of a completely different caliber. It is a life where one weighs the world’s correct answers on their own scale, fiercely contemplates why the stability brought by that path is necessary, and ultimately decides: "This is the most honest choice for me right now."
This is not conformity, but "acceptance"; it is not submission, but a "resolution." There is absolutely no reason for the value of your choice to be devalued simply because it happens to be the path the majority takes. A mainstream path that your soul has genuinely accepted becomes a territory of your own, far more solid than the outcry of any outsider.
The Prison of Becoming a Trendy Outsider
On the flip side, putting on the clothes of an outsider simply to look different from others, or to mask an inadequacy born from failing to blend into the mainstream, is just another form of conscription. If the declaration "I am different from the mainstream" is reduced to a mere performance to show off to others, you remain equally trapped in the prison of "the gaze of others."
The reason Machiavelli is great is not because he opposed the mainstream society ruled by the Medici family. On the contrary, until the very moment he died, he yearned to return to public office (the mainstream) and unfold his capabilities. However, his desire to return was not driven by the sweet nectar the mainstream provided, but because thinking and acting as a statesman was his one and only essence.
He did not calculate whether he was mainstream or an outsider. Because he could not live as "anyone other than himself" for even a single moment, he simply made the choice that was honest to who he was.
Concluding the Essay
Therefore, let us stop measuring the trajectory of our lives with shallow words like mainstream and outsider. Let us stop wasting energy trying to plot ourselves onto a coordinate plane manufactured by the world.
Whether you work for a major corporation or in a tiny workshop, whether you marry and build a family like everyone else or enjoy your freedom alone—none of that matters in the slightest. What matters is the sweat of contemplation you shed leading up to that choice.
If you can confidently say on the path you are currently walking, "This is my own life, which I have fully contemplated and decided to take responsibility for," you are already the most perfect sovereign of your existence. Even if the world’s trends and authorities mock or praise your choice, there is no need to waver.
Your own purest choice, left behind in the space where the world’s yardsticks have been erased—that is the only key allowing us to live without losing our true selves in this massive world.
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