7 July 2013
Discussed Text: Heidegger, "What Is Philosophy?"
There are so many things that I want to do with my life. I have so many plans and dreams that I want to achieve. I want to head another project before this school year ends. I want to accomplish all my responsibilities as part of the executive board of my organization. Of course, I also want to get better grades because all my long-term dreams will not come true if I slack off. Obviously, I have things going on in my life right now and I don’t want to mess them up and jeopardize my future. But the thing is, I don’t know if I’m good enough. I’m so uncertain of myself. I don’t know if I’ll ever be motivated to do everything the best that I can and be confident to face anything that comes my way. I’m so sure that I’m limited and sometimes it gets in the way for me to get better. I know I should make a conscious effort to improve myself because I’ll never go far if I keep thinking I’ll never be good enough.
Maybe, there is a deeper reason why I feel this way. Maybe something in my past made me doubt myself. Maybe it’s because I never got to finish things that I started like all the sports I enrolled in. I never felt I exceled in anything because I never experienced being number one. There are so many reasons to doubt myself but I know deep down, these things shouldn’t define me. I guess, what hinders me most to keep trying and believing in myself is that I’m too afraid to fail, to disappoint the people around me, and most importantly, to disappoint myself.
Then last Tuesday, something happened that gave me hope. That maybe, there’s something in me that is worth the risk. My head in my org told me something that totally came to me unexpected. He said that they were seeing me as a future candidate for one of the top positions and I really wasn’t expecting that. Yes, it is too early to hold on to that hope because the year has just started and there are a lot of things that can still happen. Maybe they won’t see me as someone fit for the job in the succeeding months. But what he said was enough to motivate me, to push myself and continue to be better. The idea makes me want to aspire for more because I actually have a potential. Others recognize it, and it’s time for me to acknowledge it too. I have been given enough opportunities to prove to myself that I am good enough. I guess what I’m trying to say is that all my inhibitions shouldn’t limit me because there’s more to life than failure. It’s true that there’s no guarantee that I’ll succeed, but that shouldn’t stop me from trying.
The future is so unpredictable and there are so many possibilities that can happen. There are personal issues that can limit us to be the best that we can be. But all these uncertainties and restrictions disappear when we start believing. Believe that we have so much to offer and that we are capable of accomplishing wonders in our lives. It’s just a matter of focusing on what is essential, rather than what is not, because eventually, this faith in ourselves will lead us to greater things. The future may still be uncertain but at least, we feel that we are ready to face it because we can.
One thing I've learned in philosophy, that we need to let life surprise us and this is what truly makes it worth living. Letting life surprise you in a way that it makes you look forward to it. Presently, we are too engrossed with the end results, our achievements, our goals, that we fail to step back and look at life for what it really is, to simply enjoy life as life itself. Your blog made me recall the idea of transcendence as we all want to be more of ourselves, to improve but improve in such a way that we improve not only for ourselves but precisely for others as well. Wanting different positions in our orgs, setting goals, yes they are all personal achievements and improvements for one's self but beyond that there are reasons on why we want to achieve those things. In the surface it may seem that we only want it for personal growth or maybe our resumes (something entirely for the self) but beyond that we realize that we want these things to be more for others. To gain high positions in our orgs so that we can change and give impact to others, we can lead them and thus be of service to these people and this is what exactly captures the meaning of transcendence.
ReplyDeleteFrenchi Baluyot (A)