Do You Know Yourself?
Last time, I asked you if you define yourself. I gave you my thoughts and opinions on it and why I don’t stand with it.
This time, I am asking you another question.
Do you know yourself?
And this is not the same as defining yourself.
This is about understanding yourself.
Do you know what makes you happy, what makes you sad, what makes you confident?
Do you know the future you want for yourself?
Do you know what you are passionate about?
Do you know who your true friends are?
Do you know what makes you different?
Do you know where your faith lies, what you believe in?
By now I know that there are roughly two kinds of people.
One, who think about these things, who in stereotypical words would be considered “deep”.
Two, who choose NOT to think about these things, because they don’t want to fall under the category of someone who takes life so 'seriously'.
This may sound stupid to many, but there are people who think it ‘uncool’.
‘Uncool’ to be deep, religious, or spiritual for that matter.
And the stigma around this is just so prevalent and yet so unaddressed,
And is why so many people, especially teenagers, live life on the surface.
I know I did at one point.
The questions above are just a handful among so many others, that I feel every person should want to know the answers to.
And the reason I am saying this is because,
If you don’t know who you are now, how will you work on making yourself better?
How will you grow?
Quite often, people believe that they will automatically mature and grow in the environment they are in,
They leave their journey in the hands of time.
My question to you is why?
Why would you prefer to leave the reigns of your life in the hands of time and the environment,
When you can steer it in the direction you want it to today.
Why do you want to realize that you aren’t happy 10 years down the line,
When you can realize it now and work on it.
All it requires is some thinking, some self-reflection, and some change.
The more you think about who you are,
The more you understand why you do certain things, why you don’t,
Why certain things affect you more than others,
Why you keep making the same mistake,
Why there are certain kinds of people in your life,
Why certain people aren’t in your life anymore,
And why you are the way you are.
And there is nothing more satisfying than knowing the answers to these questions.
I remember,
I used to be the kind to say,
“I don’t care” to everything.
Completely unbothered and uninterested in my own life.
And while that period was peaceful,
It was so bland,
It was like I was stuck, not moving forward, no moving backward.
I was just there.
I realize it now, that by saying ‘I don’t care’
I was expecting my life to take shape, without knowing what shape I wanted it to be.
I was taking life for granted.
In short,
I am talking to you about — actually putting in the effort to understand who you are.
Something like this is usually left unsaid,
It is automatically expected out of everyone,
And it isn’t taught anywhere.
The reason I am talking to you about it is because,
There are so many of you who choose to ignore it.
Either because you think you aren’t capable of thinking so deeply about life,
or,
Because you think, you are fine the way you are, and there’s no scope for change.
In both cases you are wrong.
Everyone is capable of thinking about themselves,
And everyone has scope to be better than who they are today.
And if you are one of those, who believe that being a “deep” person, also means being boring and too serious,
Then you have just fallen into the trap of stereotypes all over again.
Because I know that I can live life on the edge,
Be carefree, and fun
And yet understand myself,
Know who I want to be as a person.
Everyone deserves to find themselves,
Some people can go their whole life trying to figure out who they are,
But as long as you put yourself on that path,
And put in the effort,
You won’t find life so superficial anymore.
Maybe, maybe not.
These are just my thoughts.
•Reesha•
