"What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what the people think."
People have this notion that they need to do things in order to be accepted. The want or desire of acceptance is human nature. When all is said and done, however, who do we really have? Ourselves. Therefore, before we go after the acceptance we crave, we must first search for the acceptance within ourselves. We are, who we are, so we need to act on that or we will never be satisfied. Our friends should tolerate who we are, and what we do. The only way to let others into your life is to let yourself in first. Knowing yourself allows you to know others. We should follow our instincts, because they are true to us. When we stop and ask for advise we let others take over our initial thoughts, which in some cases may be good, because getting various perspectives on things is always helpful, but as long as we don't let our intuition go unheard. For the most part, however, acting on impulse is the truest form of action. When we let others' thoughts get in the way of our own, we are far from being self-reliant. "If you would be a man, speak today what you think today... and tomorrow speak what you think in hard words again, though it contradicts everything you said today"(75). Who cares if your thoughts contradict each other, changing your mind is a part of life, a learning process, so don't be afraid to speak your mind and then later to change it. People may smirk and say, "Oh, well, that's not what Alex said yesterday!", but yesterday is in the past. "What I must do is all that concerns me, not what people think." Also, why should it matter if I choose to make a fool of myself? As long as I like who I am, and as long as I accept myself for who I am, the rest will follow. Self-reliance goes hand in hand with self-respect. I should respect my thoughts, purely because they are my own. They are all that I have. Having a good relationship with myself allows me to have good relationships with other people. In other words, in order to befriend other people, I must befriend myself first. I must realize my insecurities, my good qualities and bad ones, my inner most thoughts, and I must realize what I stand for, so that I can carry that out with ease in my daily life. I know that I am a very perceptive person, and that I don't hold grudges. I also know that I forgive too easily, and I get hurt too easily. I'm emotional, but I'm strong. I'm independent, and I know that in the end, I am all that I have.
2 comments:
Alex W.-
I really liked this blog because it is true- in the end all we have our ourselves. We can go through life trying to appease everyone, but as we move on we ultimately only have ourselves. "Self-reliance goes hand in hand with self-respect." If we do not respect and trust our own thoughts, beliefs, and conscience, then we can never be independent. And independence is one of the most important traits to have as a person. I also like the idea that we can change our minds. Often I believe one thing one day, and over time my views change with experience and perceptions. I think its important to be able to change our minds, but not be too fickle. If so, we might not be changing because WE think so but because we are too easily influenced. That is why it is important to do things because you yourself wants to, not because the masses do.
"For the most part, however, acting on impulse is the truest form of action."
I love this line! I had never thought about this way, because i had always been told that the truest form of action was just acting upon your own free will. This line however made me see it in a completely different way. It proves to us that the only way we can completely depend on ourselves is by trusting ourselves. In this case that means trusting ourself to act on impulse and not worrying about the outcome because we would know that no matter what happens, you will still have yourself. In order to really live we have to depend on and trust ourselves. This is the only way that we will allow ourselves to take risks and live life to the fullest. Good job!
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