I've been better about it, but with this new business I've justified the collection of all things inspirational - usually magnets, greeting cards, journals, etc. all with a pithy quote somewhere. I sometimes can't stand that I like this stuff because it's so cheesy, but other times it serves as a good reminder. Here's one from a greeting card that I like:
"Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself."
It helps me remember that life isn't about passively waiting to uncover or discover something, but rather it's about taking the responsibility to positively affect the future. Even though we might feel lost at times, I don't think the answer is digging deeper to find what's hidden; instead I think of it as building up the mountain of who/what you want to be.
There's a lot of power in knowing that you can create opportunities for yourself. Especially when your situation in life changes, if you wait around for the "answer" to materialize, you'll probably feel a lot less in control. We each have the ability to positively affect our future through the decisions we make (big and small), which means that everyday we are choosing/creating our lives.
"Finding yourself" also implies that there's a right answer or a desired end-state out there for you, which isn't really the case (unless the desired end-state is something generic like being happy or having a career you enjoy). I believe that we continually evolve and develop over the course of our lives, so there isn't really one answer as to "who we are" because aside from our core beliefs and values, we are always trying to improve and better define who we are.
Maybe instead we should say we're "finding ways to create ourselves".
- Am I splitting hairs or do you agree?
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