THE DAY I DECIDED TO BE MYSELF
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those that mind don’t matter and those that matter don’t mind.”
How many of us nowadays have time to talk with ourselves, the time to listen to our inner self and how many of you sit down and have a 5 minute to chitchat with yourself . Everyone thinks that it is just a waste of time or utter madness but nothing is more crucial and important than this because if you don’t have time to know yourself will others bother to do so . Connecting with our own souls and knowing ourselves paves a very important part for connecting with others.
I am just 17 years of age, a teenager who is constantly undergoing changes in matters of mental, spiritual, emotional and physical aspects. I am like any other ordinary teenager fighting my way out and finding my path, also like any adolescent receiving a lot of instructions and list of do’s and don’ts. I’m still building up my personality and is learning constantly the rights and wrongs of this world and is forced to abide by the bitter rules of society.
As I grew up I understood that the society has already decided the standard life of a student and the matter if her passion lies in it or not doesn’t matter an ounce. And when someone waver from the pre-set path she is ridiculed and tagged as a rebel but maybe in the end the latter is more content in life because she listened to her heart. Advice is necessary in life but always be cautious that you listen to those which make you a better version of yourself than completely somebody else.
There is a famous quote by Albert Einstein “If you judge a fish by it ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”, so always remember don’t compare yourself with others while one thing means success for you may not be for them, what makes you happy may make them sad and what lights you up may dim them down. Be true to yourself, be proud of who you are, say no to things that make you sad, laugh hard when you feel so, cry your heart out when you are down, accept you for all what you are- your weird tastes, your ridiculous fashion sense, your embarrassing mistakes, your habit of moving your hands when you are talking, your funny facial expressions, your pat failure and wins. Embrace yourself with all your imperfections and be brave enough to accept them and try to be a better version of yourself.
I recently watched a video of Brene Brown and in the course of the video she says words that really influenced me “I spent the first 30 years of my life doing everything to fit in. I’m not willing to betray myself anymore to fit in with you. I just can’t do it.” Her words replayed many times throughout the following days in my mind and it made me think sometimes in order to belong we sacrifice our own self and by this we are actually losing what we intended to gain by fitting in- happiness. But happiness is a queer thing, we believe it comes from outside whereas it is within ourselves and hence it is impossible to be happy by not being yourself. Many of us sometimes in our lifetime would have felt terrible being in a group and felt uncomfortable within because you were lonely while in a group and trust me people think being alone makes you lonely but I don’t think that’s true, being surrounded by the wrong people is the loneliest thing in the world.
I would like to end by quoting – always remember that your worth is decided by you, not others.
By: LEKSHMI P CHANDRAN
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