Perception and Reality

It is believed that education enlightens us, but do you really think it does so? Do we use education in the right way? Education, over a period of time, has helped a lot of us understand society, people and things around us. It has allowed us to rebel, create awareness, fight for what is right and embark on the right track.

However, why is the world still fighting deforestation, terror wars, and other social evils? Not only the global challenges, but we also struggle at choosing career options. Considering that every 4 out of 5 people of the world are educated, then why it is that we continue to struggle?

The reason is simple - perception. And we all seem to fall prey to it. Since childhood we have held perceptions and have seldom taken the pain to see the transparent picture. And believe me, this has stopped a lot of us from exploring ourselves to full potential.

How is perception built-

It’s with what we have fed ourselves mentally, the surroundings, family, news channels, popular personalities we follow and what we read. We are influenced by these and form an opinion based on what “seems” right. Education didn’t teach us science, maths and other subjects because they “seem” right but because they were right and always helped us learn with practical experiments to strengthen the logic. Well, somewhere as we grow we are overpowered by certain perceptions that make us act rather unreasonably. So, what are these perceptions?

Perception of Past

“In the past when I tried, this happened, that happened hence I feel so-and-so!” If you have quoted this, you are stuck with a false image of past which might not hold true to what is happening with your life today and whatever is going to happen tomorrow. It’s not logical to decide your potential today on the basis of your past. There was a time you couldn’t hold your neck up on your own. You are, most likely, nailing that part by now. Every single thing that you use today, did not exist a few centuries or in some cases, even a few decades back. Logically, past can definitely not decide the future.

Perception of Self

The construct of self we see within, using feedback received from surroundings. is what we limit ourselves to. We seldom explore our potential, fearing it would damage the perception of self of what we can achieve and hence most of the educated fraternity today has been underutilising itself. How many times have you not pursued a hobby seriously, fearing that you are not good enough? Or not taken up a course because it didn’t seem possible at the time? We have stopped striving for what we want, and live our lives according to what we have been told we want. There’s a world of difference between the two. The fact is that you can never decide what you can or cannot do, till such time that you actually give it a go.

Perception of Society (Image)

Educated Individuals often fear what society has to say about them and their Image. Now this Image decides again what my choices would be and that’s sad. I can truly love to do something but I am not doing so fearing about others’ opinions. Believe me, we might feel that we are the centre of universe but we aren’t. People are too busy thinking about themselves, to think about us.

Perception about Career

Majority of educated people spend their entire life in a stream because they feel they are inadequate to represent themselves in a particular industry. Why is this validation required? Again the perceptions about ourselves and our image act heavily and we restrict from trying out other industries. I am sure we have said, “I am not like this”, “I don’t think I can do this”, “this is not my cup of tea” and so on.

I have addressed only the major perceptions that build our character. But how can these perceptions be tackled?

USE REALITY (Education)

For your perception about self and society always understand to see who, what and why, and the relevance of such feedback. Let me elaborate -

Who is giving you feedback? Do you consider him or her credible for that particular industry or situation?

What is been appreciated/criticised ? What is the level of competence?

Why is the feedback important? Why are you being appreciated/criticised for?

Relevance – is the feedback relevant for your growth or learning? Always check to see whether the person giving u feedback is sharing his opinion or talking from an unbiased viewpoint. Majority of opinions are derived from “heard-so” statements and hence don't matter.

I believe when we ask these few questions we can help build a better image of self and in return for the people around us. We need to ask questions often use education to understand a concept and differentiate perception from facts. This shall surely help us to come out of career traumas, explore new career options and build a futile future for self

PS - Please feel free to pen down your thoughts in comment section