Asklemmy

(Not who you were responding to but...)

EVERYONE else’s idea of what your life should be is the standard, and if you deviate more than the standard deviation you will suffer the consequence of eeking out existence with very few choices.

While this is true, it's not an argument against doing exactly what you want provided that people understand that everyone else has the exact same liberty. We collectively tend towards certain values and people who deviate from those values too much eventually get sorted out one way or another. As one value most people tend towards heavily is safety, it's in everyone's best interest to find common ground with others for everyone to have safety. But it is necessarily a process with errors and learning - on everyone's side; which begets more errors and learning. Thus we will never have a perfect solution. Of course, you "conforming" to majority is also you doing exactly what you want, ultimately. Because you value your safety.

Question the presupposed truth behind every statement.