It's Better To Be a Lonely Lion Than a Popular Sheep
- Madhukar Dama
- Jun 14
- 5 min read
Why being true to yourself often means walking alone
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1. The Illusion of Popularity
From the day you're born, you're trained to crave popularity.
Not because it's good — but because it's safe.
You're praised for following instructions in school. You're rewarded for dressing like others, speaking like others, even dreaming like others. You’re told: “Don’t stand out too much.”
And if you obey this long enough, you become a popular sheep. You fit in. You’re liked. You’re called “well-adjusted.”
But this comes at a cost.
You can’t speak your truth because it might upset someone.
You can’t say no because it might make you look difficult.
You can’t change direction because you’re afraid others will laugh.
You become a walking compromise. Polished outside. Hollow inside.
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2. The Cost of the Herd
Most people assume that safety lies in numbers. That if everyone is doing it, it must be right. That if everyone approves of you, you must be doing well.
But here's the trap:
The herd doesn’t care where it's going.
If the crowd is marching toward the cliff, they will still follow.
They follow trends, lies, leaders, and influencers.
They follow caste, class, customs, jobs, lifestyles — even if it kills them inside.
How many middle-class Indians stay in toxic jobs only because “everyone does it”?
How many girls are pushed into early marriage or coaching centres — only because “what will people say”?
How many people stick to religion, rituals, or ceremonies they no longer believe in — just to avoid standing out?
The sheep obeys — not because it makes sense — but because it’s afraid to break formation.
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3. The Burden of the Lion
To be a lion is to carry the weight of your own decisions.
The lion walks alone not because it hates company, but because it refuses to lie.
It says no to rituals it doesn’t believe in.
It refuses promotions that cost its health.
It leaves cities to farm.
It questions temples, gurus, degrees, and popularity.
The lion is not liked.
It is judged, gossiped about, misunderstood.
Relatives worry. Friends disappear. Society isolates.
But the lion keeps walking. Not for rebellion. Not for drama.
But because it wants to be free.
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4. Family Pressure: The First Cage
In Indian homes, your choices are not yours.
From your subject in school to your choice of spouse, it's all committee-approved.
If you obey, you're praised as a “good child.”
If you rebel, you're told you’ve “shamed the family.”
Here, being a lion is not heroic. It is treated as betrayal.
But ask yourself:
What’s the use of being loved for who you're not?
How long can you wear the mask of the obedient sheep?
What do you gain by hiding your roar just to be pet like a lamb?
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5. Career: The Popular Sheep’s Showroom
In modern India, career is the new caste.
You say: “I’m a software engineer” or “I’m preparing for UPSC” — and people nod with approval.
But that approval is addictive — and fake.
You stay in the job even if it crushes your soul.
You live in cities you hate.
You take EMI loans to decorate a life that never feels like yours.
Because leaving it all — to be a farmer, a healer, an artist, or just a peaceful nobody — is mocked.
Only lions do that.
Sheep fear the ridicule.
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6. Marriage and Relationships: Conformity in Disguise
Most marriages in India are agreements, not unions.
The boy and girl are chosen based on caste, salary, skin colour, and horoscope — not soul, mindset, or values.
They smile in wedding photos, post vacation selfies, raise children — and live silently dead inside.
Why?
Because divorce is shameful.
Because arranged marriage is “safe.”
Because everyone else is doing it.
But lions don’t marry for status.
They marry for connection.
Or they stay single — if needed.
And society mocks them — not because they are wrong — but because they are free.
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7. Spirituality: The Difference Between Truth and Theatre
Sheep love rituals, symbols, uniforms, gurus.
They follow customs even if they don’t understand them.
They fast on Mondays, donate on Tuesdays, and bribe gods for jobs.
It looks spiritual — but it’s just fear management.
The lion does none of this.
The lion doesn’t ring bells to please gods.
It lives honestly, fully, quietly — that’s its prayer.
It doesn’t need a crowd to feel close to truth.
That’s why most true spiritual people are loners.
They don’t sell peace. They embody it.
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8. Loneliness vs. Aloneness
Yes, the lion walks alone. But it is not lonely.
Loneliness is craving company.
Aloneness is being whole without it.
The sheep in the crowd is more lonely than the lion in the wild.
Because the sheep doesn’t even know who it is.
It is scared to be left out — because deep down, it has no self.
But the lion?
Even in the forest, even with no likes, no followers, no applause — it knows who it is.
That’s why it doesn’t need noise. It doesn’t need approval. It doesn’t need a tribe.
It has dignity — and that’s enough.
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9. The Final Test: Can You Live with Yourself?
At the end of the day, the only real question is:
Can you sleep peacefully with who you’ve become?
You can win awards and still feel like a fraud.
You can have thousands of followers and still feel empty.
You can be the most admired person in your family — and still feel imprisoned.
The lion may be rejected by the world, but it’s accepted by its own soul.
The sheep may be loved by all — but it lives with self-disgust it can never admit.
That is the difference.
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10. The Middle Path is a Trap
Most people say:
“I don’t want to be a lion or a sheep. I’ll just be neutral.”
But this is a lie.
Because life constantly forces you to choose:
Speak your truth — or stay silent?
Live your values — or blend in?
Make your own path — or follow the ready-made road?
You either choose truth (lion) or safety (sheep).
There is no third species.
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Conclusion: The Price is Worth It
To be a lion is not easy.
You will be isolated, insulted, misjudged, misunderstood.
But you will also be awake.
You will live your own life — not one designed by someone else.
You will cry real tears. Laugh real laughs. Work with real meaning. Love with real depth.
And when you die, you will know:
You were not just a background character in someone else’s dream.
You walked your own path. Even if it was alone.
Because being a lonely lion is not about pride.
It is about freedom.
And there is no crowd worth losing that for.
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