Inside reacting out

I see two personas at every concert I go to:

There’s the outside reacting in persona that first consults the outside world before deciding what to do. If other people are dancing, we’ll start dancing. If others are not dancing, we feel as if we lack permission to be the first person to do so, so we cross our arms or put our hands in our pockets instead.

Then there’s the inside reacting out persona that pays less mind to the outside world and instead asks: “what feels most natural for me to do right now?”. The moment the itch to dance strikes, we’re moving freely and spontaneously to the music.

It’s always the first persona switching to the second, not the other way around.

And it often feels good when we make the switch.