Think About Yourself

How did you make a choice of major? How did you decide what to pursue as a career? For most of the people I have met, the decisions were made based on the best available options (and that population includes me too). May be you are also a product of available options. So, your 10th standard grades decided whether you will be studying science, maths, economy/commerce or arts. Similary at each level, your performance measured in a typical way put you in a particular stream. In fact, it was not just your performance but many other factors that made you make a reasonable choice among the best available options. Those factors include parent’s expectations, peer pressure, and your own ignorance. Whenever you were stuck with the question: “What next?”, all you did was find what others were doing and make the best choice out of it. And gradually this becomes your life’s mantra.

But what you don’t realize is that this habit becomes the weakness of your foundation as a person. Do you want to continue to make your decisions based on the same mantra? Would you continue to allow external factors to make choices for you? Well, definitely the answer I expect is no. But then what can you do about it? One way is to keep searching for a purpose and meaning in your life and if you find it, take appropriate steps towards achieving it. Many of you keep questioning life in the hope that someday you’ll get some answer that will define your existence and give some meaning to your life. As a result you see everything with skeptical eyes, there is nothing that you believe in. All you do is wait for that enlightening moment.

But that wait will never end. Because the search should be within yourself and not outside. You have to answer the question rather than seeking it from someone else. You have to become responsible for yourself. You have to define the ‘I’ in you. That ‘I’ is defined neither by your degree, job title, income nor your popularity. Break free from these chains and think about yourself independent of these external tags. Listen to your inner voice how it expresses your inner self.

Close your eyes and rewind your life upto the point when you started seeking answer to “what next?”. Play it from there till present and observe carefully what made you to make the decisions that you made. Now imagine your life starting from today for next 10 years assuming you keep playing the game using the same strategy. Did you like what you see? Imagine again starting from today assuming that you change it such that your life becomes your expression of the ‘I’ in you. Is it better than the earlier one? If the answer is yes, then change your mantra right now.

Redefine yourself. Make this short and the only existence worth and enjoyable. Learn from your experiences and mistakes. Become an educated being.

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