Perpy was just a high-schooler, and just like any teenagers, he wanted to be cool.
He tried many things, but all of them failed.
If Mike wore a hat, then it’d be cool and swag. If Perpy wore the same hat, he’d be laughed at.
“What’s your secret?” Perpy asked his friend as they rode their bicycles on a dirt road.
“Secret? There’s no secret,” Mike laughed as he spun the pedals even faster, “Shit’s cool if I think it’s cool. That’s about it.”
At the time, Perpy assumed Mike was lying and hiding some big secret from him.
In the end, it took me more than ten years to understand him, Perpy thought.
Perpy went on with his life, going through his monotonous days.
Then one day, he bought a leather jacket that seemed so cool he couldn’t leave it at the store.
Perpy walked to school as usual, humming a happy tune. The jacket put him in a great mood.
“Yo, Perpy! Damn, that’s lovely jacket!” One of the guys at school greeted him, “Your mom bought if for ya! or maybe your granny?”
Perpy tried to reply, but he stuttered, and everyone laughed at him.
He’s calling me a mommy’s boy, right? Oh no, seems like the jacket wasn’t that cool…
He spent the rest of the day staring at his feet with shame, unable to look people in the eye fearing they’d make fun of him.
Time went by and similar types of interactions repeated. He understood that something was wrong.
He needed to investigate.
One day, Mike bought a new pair of shoes, one that looked quite ugly and too flamboyant.
There was no way these shoes were cool, at least to Perpy, so he observed.
“Aye Mike! Those shoes are lovely,” One of their classmates commented, “You must’ve stolen them from a gay bar or something?”
“I know right, the drinks at that bar were so expensive and nasty! I had to steal something to make it even,” Mike nodded with a knowing smile, “Thanks for the compliment, but I ain’t selling them to you anytime haha!”
Everyone laughed, and most of them high-fived Mike. After the school session was over, some of them were genuinely interested the shoes, wanting to buy similar pairs.
Perpy’s eyes were wide open as he looked at the way his friend dealt with it.
The interaction that Mike had was not that different from his own. The only variable was their reactions to the comments they received.
When Perpy got a ‘bad’ comment, he reacted awkwardly, then the situation became embarassing for real.
When Mike got an even worse comment, he reacted with swagger, then the interaction became fun and smooth.
He could’ve interpreted that comment negatively, but he perceived it as positive as he could given the situation, Perpy thought.
The whole interaction was decided by the attitude of the person being ‘tested’.
Mike had control over his perception of reality, one even stronger than his classmates’.
Perpy’s perception of reality was weak. A couple light insults swayed his opinion about his jacket from ‘cool’ to ’embarassing’.
Only after years of failures did Perpy gain total understanding of that concept.
Deep down, he wasn’t sure about the jacket’s coolness, so his minds looked for proof of it being bad.
Mike was certain about his shoes’ appearance. That’s why people thought they were cool, even though they looked like something an exotic dancer would wear at a niche festival.
Years passed by, and Perpy ended up training Mike to get his life back together.
“Hey fatso, why don’t you leave some donuts for the rest of us,” one of the kids yelled at Mike who’s been running around the neighborhood to lose weight.
“Shut the fuck up, kid! Or I’ll tell your dad!” the fatso Mike screamed.
He’s just a kid, bro, Perpy shook his head as he kept encouraging his friend.
“The old you would’ve said something like ‘can’t stop eating donuts when your mom brings them over every night!’, and he’s a kid anyway, don’t take his words to heart.”
“That’s easy for you to say, you don’t have a triple chin to worry about.” Mike retorted.
He noticed that Mike was acting like an insecure young Perpy, and the current Perpy was just like the young Mike.
I see. It’ll take a while before he gets a grip on his shit.
Their circumstances changed how strong their preceptions of reality were.
People called this ‘frame’.
Having frame meant that the person was so sure of his perception of himself that others’ opinions didn’t amount to nothing compared to his own.
And with a frame that was strong enough, one could rule the world.
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