If you've decided that you are just tired of being one of the herd and you are interested in an alternate path, what I will try to do is show you how to walk down that path. This isn't difficult, It's just knowing how to do it. The "how" is having the knowledge to be what you want yourself to be - not what you've been told to be by others. Those others usually don't have the knowledge to be anything else or they are terrified that some people do know how and they don't. What makes something scary? The unknown? If you want to be confident, assured, independent, then gaining some skills will help. Using my "sheep or wolf" idea, there are many sources for knowing how to be a sheep.
Watch commercials, watch popular television shows, follow the latest trends, listen to marketers, conform, be just like everyone else. You will fit right into the herd. Fearful, dull, mundane, boring. Definitely not threatening. Skip excitement, it's too dangerous. If you're male, might as well castrate yourself - you won't have any need for testicles. They represent toughness and fortitude, you won't have those qualities in the herd.
I honestly don't know why anyone would choose that path unless he or she truly likes it, or just don't know how to go another direction. I'll try to take care of that problem. Then, you can see if you'd rather live as a wolf. There's both good and bad with the wolf path. You will make many people uncomfortable. Some will want to be like you are, but they don't have the courage to do so and they will end up disliking you. You probably will not have a busy social life. You will spend more and more time learning skills that you may have never even considered learning in your earlier life. Things that were important to you may become completely meaningless. Your life will not meet with the approval of others. I should repeat that sentence a couple dozen times, because you will become what most can not and they won't like seeing you with the qualities and choices that they are afraid to attempt.
What's the good part? You get to be you, for yourself. Explore what you wish, choose your own likes and dislikes, go in your own direction. There is no "should" based on what's supposedly normal in society. Anything you think you should do is based on the moral code that you choose for yourself. Outwardly, you'll probably end up rather quiet. You will find that you won't have to take any crap from anyone because most won't think of bothering you in the first place.
So, back to how to get there. First, how do you look? Happy with it? Any action that comes from you means it will help if it comes from a you that is in reasonably good shape if at all possible. If not possible, there are tools to equalize that in some kind of encounter but for the first impression, being in good shape means it will be easier for you to move around, to carry yourself with a sense of assurance. As I have touched on before, what is being projected outward from you is a big part of this process. Not in good shape, then some basic exercises can help. It doesn't have to take hours and hours in a gym - I spend 60 minutes a week at it and am happy with the result. Just make the decision to start, no matter how little you can do. The decision alone is often the most difficult part of the task. Next is learing some skills that will keep you a safe and victorious wolf. There are bad wolves too, and you will want the ability to beat them if they threaten you. Some of winning (in fact, most of winning) comes from mindset. The book "The Combative Perspective" by Gabriel Suarez is a tremendous aid for understanding mindset. It's available at www.onesourcetactical.com or www.amazon.com. And as an introduction to actual skill, go to www.dogbrothers.com and get the expensive but well worth it DVD set "Die Less Often" and "Die Less Often 2." Dog Brothers is watched over by Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny and it's not structured tournament martial arts. It's real world survival. Just watch the DVDs, you don't have to run out and buy anything else, though after seeing them, you might decide that a knife is a good tool to carry with you.
Get some exercise.
Read a book.
Watch a few DVDs.
This will be a good start to gaining some of the wolf knowledge you want.