DO IT YOURSELF: KNOW YOURSELF.
Are you You?
(I MEAN THE REAL YOU AND NOT AN IMPOSTER OF SOME KIND?)
Do you even know?
Have you thought about it lately?
(This is part 2 in our series on the self. Part one is below.)
Self-Knowledge’ is crucial to determining who we are and what we want on earth.
It doesn’t get much attention.
BE YOURSELF, EVERYBODY ELSE IS TAKEN.
-Oscar Wilde, playwright.
OSCAR WILDE Be Yourself; everybody else is taken.
Wilde’s instruction is terrific unless you haven’t a clue as to who you really are.
Then you’re up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
Who are you?
What are you doing here?
Ask yourself–
- Why am I in this job?
- Why am I in this relationship?
- What do I want out of my work, my relationships, myself?
You know, as in before you die.
Most people have no idea who they are.
Most people never try to find out (for various insufficient reasons).
For those who try, there are different ways to do it, most of them not very successful.
- Some people who try want to optimize their chances in life.
- Some want to know how to correct errors they made in life.
Lack of self-knowledge causes wrong decisions.
They have come to see that not knowing who they are causes
them to make the wrong choices in life–about almost everything.
They are right.
It’s because they don’t know themselves well enough to make
the RIGHT choices and decisions about themselves.
In the sixties and seventies, everybody talked about “going
to find myself.”
It became the subject of jokes and cartoons.
People would laugh and ask them “Are you lost?”
“Well, kinda,” their friend would reply.
“I don’t know what to do with my life.”
“Every decision I make– whether it’s a about dating someone
or getting a job seems to wind up in the dumpster.”
(They’d usually use a different word there at the end!)
It’s because they were fed up.
Frustrated at not getting to where they thought they should
be in life.
So they went away to find themselves.
Metaphorically or actually.
The problem is that everywhere you go, there you are!
You cannot get away from yourself.
You couldn’t then and you can’t now.
Even if you try–maybe especially if you try– it backfires
and you learn later, to your regret, that you simply can’t
do it.
Far better to begin the journey and figure it out.
About which, more later!
For more immediately, sign up to my list for all manner of good things!
The box is up at the top right of the page.
I’ll be with you.
Frank
Part one in the series:
SELF SERIES 1: WHATEVER YOU DO TONIGHT, PLEASE DON’T BE YOURSELF!
