Make Privacy Your Legacy
Truths I’ve Learned About Myself by Observing Beyoncé’s Personality Traits — Using Myers-Briggs Test as Confirmatory Tool.
Everybody is different and unique in their own ways. Some people are naturally ‘loud’ whereas others are quiet. Most times it’s intertwined; loud but introverted and quiet but extroverted. I don’t know the point of the last statement yet but I hope to when I delve more into the topic.
With that said, it’s quite understandable why certain types of people just can’t be private despite being on a low-key and others who are more out there, can.
Privacy is the ability to keep and secure too, your private life away from public knowledge and consumption.
Privacy becomes a legacy when you are known for it and it enables you to scale through in a bizarre but highly admirable way. It works in two types of people; famous and non-famous.
When you’re famous it’s common knowledge that your life is on full glare to the public. It is hard to hide or conceal even the minute detail — as little as the difference in the design of the black hose you wore to the Grammys for instance— as opposed to an unfamous regular person who goes about their lives unobserved.
But Beyoncé has proven otherwise. She’s extraordinaire or whatever proves different from the norm for you.
She has proven, time and time again that you can be famous and yet your personal life can be under wraps. She has proven beyond all reasonable doubt what an artist is set up to do and stuck with it all through — not fazed or frazzled by what anyone has to say — at least with her consistency with silence. She has proven beyond questioning, how one can keep to herself by herself around herself and yet make it through such an easily deletable industry such as the one she’s involved in — especially at such ultramodern time, and with the usefulness of social media — where she scarcely interacts.
It baffled me yet enticed me to find out more.
Despite all the controversies stemming from her lack of input, stance, comments, and interviews as expected, Beyoncé remains stilted in maintaining her privacy. One of such predominant times was when she refused an interview by Vogue after being featured in it and by the first black photographer Tyler Mitchell for that matter — according to a reporter in nbcnews.
Apparently, several stones and bricks have been cast towards her for not being as open. Many have termed her privacy as a strategy (which she briefly concurred in one of her albums “Formation”). Others have labeled her silence a ‘disservice’ to the nation and world because she rarely shares any views on current happenings in the world. She’s been called ‘heavy-handed’ after retracting from the press when she released her autobiography. Another term called hyper-visibility and inaccessibility coined by Scholar Daphane was not left out too— where it’s summarized as ‘Beyoncé lets you see what she wants you to see, and nothing more’. And the list goes on as showcased on an article in NewYork Times by writer Valeriya Sofranova called “There’s Something Eerie About a Person Who Doesn’t Participate- Readers Debate Beyoncé’s Silence — filled with different comments and opinions — as exemplified.
Yet she keeps mute.
Beyoncé reminds me a whole lot about myself and others that I’ve observed shares similar personality traits. This is not to rule out any other possibilities that could counter this but this is purely from my observations thus far.
One thing I’ve observed about quiet and private people is that we tend to make more waves — silently though — compared to our counterparts — in various aspects.
We would look dumb when we don’t often speak out on public matters. Full of ourselves even.
Appear armor-plated or word-proofed against hurtful words and criticisms dashed by various people, both the ones close to us and not.
We would appear silly when we publicly show our freaky sides.
Appear unaffected when certain reactions are expected of us.
But most times all we’re really doing is being private. And as much as it has its pros and cons. All in all, we’re humans who feel hurt, down, are fallible and hence, always affected. We just chose a route that works best for us and that is privacy.
On the flip side, we’re heard and seen when we need to be. We would go all the way in showcasing our talents and skills in achieving our purpose at any given time — in that way, we’re might vaguely relay some personal information about us, if you really care that much to know — otherwise, we keep it moving. And when we’re done, we are. We retract and focus on something else. We observe from the windows of our minds, sifting what goes beyond that and not.
But most times all we’re really doing is being private. And as much as it has its pros and cons. All in all, we’re humans who feel hurt, down, are fallible, and hence, always affected. We just chose a route that works best for us and that is privacy.
Privacy becoming a legacy is when it lets you scale through the paranormal and yet still maintain our positions. It’s mostly the kind of position that is dynamic — easily deletable, replaceable, or magnifying in a good way. In such cases, it’s such a wonder how we remain there despite all the heat and feat.
According to one of the comments from the NewYork Times article stipulated above, ‘it is perceived as though other celebrities are filling the vacuum she’s left for so many years via social media and other comments about escaping media problems and choosing silence as a tool’.
Whatever it is. Beyoncé is as human as we all are and feels the pain as anyone else who’s been wrongly accused, criticized and bashed would feel. She just chooses silence over them, which has over time, stylishly become a legacy of its own.
No wonder her name is always mentioned in all nooks and crannies; movies and tales; young and old — delineating her as a powerful role model — because she doesn’t really involve herself and brand in the limelight of unwarranted or unnecessary discourse that may otherwise dent her.
This may sound counterintuitive and supposedly counterproductive for a superstar like her but I guess the popular quote of ‘less is more’ is encouraging her thrive and still being in the limelight so far.
This leads me to another prototype to our kind of personality according to the Myers-Briggs Personality Test — ISFJ, with particular sets of traits — introspective and sensitive.
We simply love to stick to ourselves and sort us out. According to Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), it’s our strategy to constantly improve ourselves so we spend that whole ‘quiet’ time doing so. But when it’s time to ‘boogie’ down or express ourselves someway else, socially, we do not hesitate. We are social bees.
This might explain the following statement in the introductory page about being quiet yet extroverted and vice- versa.
We dislike competitions as well. Even when we think we might win, we would rather do our best in what we know best than act out of comparisons to someone else. This may explain why Beyoncé remains unfazed through thick and thin from comparisons between her and many other celebrities, notably Kim Kardashian.
Privacy becomes a legacy in the sense that it appears as though you’re playing safe. Think about it; we would rather be quiet when we can’t be eloquent enough in telling you how we feel. It’s safer that way. Like hell, we might still be in the processing stage of that information, gossip, or comment of what we saw or heard, whereas the next ‘nimble-witted’ person already disintegrated them.
We acknowledge this flaw.
This might also explain why Beyoncé stays off the charts when it comes to social media — the topmost trending platform for the well-known and celebrated, yet with huge following and idolization.
Privacy makes you gain respect too. Because you’re rarely seen and heard, when you appear, people would love to find out what you’ve been all about. You trigger curiosity. When you speak, there’s silence to make sure no word is left amiss. It forms a kind of legacy where you’re fascinating enough to behold — thus advantageous in many angles as a result.
In essence;
Not everyone is and can be the same. Some are loud or out there, while others are quiet. Some are very intentional in their every move while others are okay with being on autopilot, going with the flow. Whatever works for anyone works for them.
Inculcating the habit of privacy can be hard on people who are not introspective, sensitive, and love some ‘quiet’ time despite their stance in the society.
You would have to make privacy a priority to gain it. Because when your personal information is very important to protect you’d do everything in your power to protect it.
This means that forming the habit or skill of having and maintaining your privacy is possible when you make up your mind and remain mindful.
It comes with a lot of bashing and criticisms but it also brings you a lot of respect as over-association/availability breeds contempt.
It breeds attentiveness as you’re rarely seen and heard — which forms a very good persuasive skill if you’re pitching or have something to sell.
Peace of mind — from navigating your life the way you like away from prying eyes. Wear what you want, raise your family the way you like, and eat how you like too etcetera.
Confuses your ‘haters’ and the naysayers — as they are not sure what affects you or not — since you’re not reacting.
And most of all, the legacy that comes from knowing you only curate what you want people to see, which allows you to live your life the way you want — rich or broke; nice or harsh; sick or healthy; celebrity or not.
Learn to lead a private life — not quiet, not shy, not fearful; and make it into a legacy that yields you more than you can imagine.
