Why Try? What is the point?
What is the point?
Everyday we wake up, go to work, go to school, take care of our families, deal with the noise that life throws at us. Whatever it is, I doubt there are many of us who go through each day without dealing with some doubt, fear, nervousness, uncertainty, and worry. I get anxious as much as the next person, for every instance I am confident, there is just as many instances where I am skeptical, of my own abilities, what I am capable of, of what is possible.
Remember that time you asked yourself, what if I’m not ready?
If I ask myself this question of whether I’m ready, or if I’m capable a million times, will it have changed anything for the outcome that I want? I can’t predict the future anymore than the next person (at least not that I know of?), but I know it goes one of two ways.
- I ask myself a million times and at which some point, I’ve decided it’s better to just give up than try, because if I ask myself a million times, and answer it the same way — must be true?
- I ask myself this question, maybe a hundred times, and decide oh well — let’s just go with it, I don’t know the future, I can guess, but what I do know is what I am doing today, why I am doing it, and that the least I can do is try.
In both cases, nothing changes materially by asking a million times or fewer times. I do know when I stop asking and just give it a go, I am guaranteed to learn, grow, and gain more than I would have if I went with option 1. All option 2 does is push me to grow, in the way that life wants us to, but we all stop ourselves from doing it.
The real question: To grow or not to grow?
Society just keeps vomiting on us these expectations to be perfect, infallible, prepared for everything and anything, and free of mistakes. Well, if that’s you, maybe I should hire you, because I have yet to meet someone who has such a life and delivers such flawless results. Seriously — I wonder how empty life becomes over time if you’ve never made a mistake, if you have never truly learned, your experience is not going to be as deep and gut wrenching in the way the rest of us feel when we learn of our weaknesses or areas of opportunity, when we make mistakes, when we are being human.
Reflecting the other day: If you are never failing and successful at everything, where does that leave you?
Every opportunity to grow and explore who you are, what you want, why you want, and what your purpose is have been taken from you. Just some ideas, but I get this feeling in my gut that those around you and those who care about you are robbing you of the opportunity to explore your potential and embrace the best of who you are, in fear of what you might not be, without even knowing. I cannot grow at what I don’t know I am weak at, I cannot have such heightened self awareness that I see and know all about myself. My own strengths are my blindspots, but they also got me to where I am, what I can hope is that I have engendered the trust and faith in those around me who care, whether professionally or personally that they will share with me the feedback and opportunities to grow, because they believe in learning. You can guess all day, you can guess a million times, you’ll never know, until you try.
What is the point? Why Try?
Ultimately — I ask myself and sometimes I forget and ask myself again — what is it that gives me the drive to move forward, whether in life or my career when I experience challenges both large and small. Memo to self: I should probably write it down. Wherever I find it in myself, I have to know one thing is true and why I MUST TRY:
An unwavering optimism and belief that the future can be made better.
This point has kept me and keeps me sane in spite of the relentless demands of all aspects of daily life, of that pressure that feels like the weight of the world.
-nm
Original Post from https://medium.com/@w8oftheworld