That is why it is called self discovery—You get to try things. Some go well. Some don't.
We are born babies. Nobody came into this world all grown up. We came with nothing. We spent our childhood learning, mimicking and observing the people around us and the society we found ourselves in. In my late childhood, I had already developed some skills and habits that helped me blend into my society—the idea is that the adults in the community around us help us to reach this point of adaptation. All we knew at that point was what we were taught, what we saw people around
us do and what we observed from the society.
At some point we yearn for more. We no longer want to be given all the instructions, we want to develop ideas, we want to try out those new things that seem interest us. We are no longer satisfied with what mummy, daddy, Jane, and uncle says. We no longer want the society's norm to be our norm. We want to make our standards and create our personal values. That is where the journey begins......
Self discovery—the journey of freedom. We get ready like the scientist, with our laboratory coats and safety googles on, to perform some intensive experiments. Let's not forget we must come out with results and make conclusions on every experiment. We must go through every stage of the experiment. We must observe. We must find. We compare our findings, We select. We apply. We see results. We make conclusions. Our conclusion on some experiment will be 'This is shitty and messed up. This experiment proved abortive.' Some conclusions will be 'excellent result. successfully carried out'. Self discovery is trial-and-error. I tried singing and I must you tell, I genetically suck at it. I can't even memorize the lyrics of a song. Singing is one experiment that is never a success for me but I have also discovered some great stuffs about me too. I am enjoy acting, I love working with numbers, I love writing and I am a great talker. Communication can never be a problem for me. But don't ask me to sing—I always ruin it and I have no interest in it.
We will also discover some things which we find great for a while but they begin to yield diminishing returns in the long run. For some it's drinking. For some its the number of people they've had sex with. Trust me there are many unyielding things we indulge in while on this journey, but we later let go of of them, when we discover some things that matter more to us needs the space they are occupying. That's when you find yourself saying "These things no longer freak me."
For normal people, self discovery starts from adolescence till mid twenties or mid thirties. One thing is for sure, as we journey to find the hidden treasure in us, we will get messed up but we will also get wiser. Most importantly, we will learn who we are. We will discover our limits. We will discover our abilities. Yes, we have to set limit and boundaries, to enable us carve our own niche. The fact that you can reach out to everything in the world doesn't mean you should take everything into your world. Keep limits, so that the unhealthy things can remain outside. There is a difference between limiting your potentials and setting limits/boundaries between your abilities and those things you lack interest in. The former will make you stagnant. The latter will aid your succeed and remove distractions. Recognizing your limits is not weakness, its simply having room for only things that are yours—It is you separating you from the world.
Some friends still tell me I can sing if I put my mind to learn. Agreed. But why would I want to learn something I don't even have interest in? There are too many great singers in the world and more will still be born. I'd put my commitment into something I have interest in and develop it. That is the problem, some people get stuck in this stage trying to explore even their limits. Unfortunately the self discovery experiment is not same with Michael Faraday's discovery. These people leave behind the potential in the seed and go on to try to make the chaffs become seeds. No wonder we still have people waiting tables and going for the same audition for years, meanwhile they are great chefs! These ones believe they have to be good at everything, unfortunately they end up being good at nothing. They remain in the trial-and-error stage forever. They will never do anything with there findings.
Self discovery is about gathering information about yourself. The people around us have fed us with what they think we need. Now we have to find out what is good for us. But out job doesn't stop at finding who we are. We have to create ourselves into what we have found. We have have to get into action and sow the precious seeds we found through the journey. Commitment is required for success. Finding isn't enough, we must stay committed to growing our potentials. Don't limit your seeds, start planting them now. They look small but all you need for greatness is in them. If you must make a dent in the world, you must find and act. Out go things that will hinder you from success. Feed yourself with the right mental energy required to achieve your goals.
Like I said feeling messed up cannot be left out of the self discovery Journey. Don't just stick to the messed up experiments. Get into action with the successful experiments. Please, don't forget to share your thoughts with me on this. Thanks. Enjoy your day!
No comments:
Post a Comment