A person must accept her past, present, and future to truly know herself. Upon looking back on the past, she must see how it affected her development. Most importantly she must recognize how life could have been different had she taken a different path. However, she must know that the past cannot be changed. Instead of dwelling on the past, she must take that knowledge after looking at her past and use it in the present to live the lifestyle she desires. Her past actions determine her present, which determines her future actions. Throughout her life, she must never lose sight of who she is, which is determined by her past, present, and future actions. As found in Luke 9:25, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” To ensure that she does not lose focus of who she is, she must value what she has found out from looking at herself from an outsider’s point of view. The moment she sees her flaws and weaknesses, and she understands where they come from will she be able to grow as a person. Her aspirations could never be achieved if she does not value this self-knowledge, which is the result of years of re-evaluating and re-assessing herself. It is crucial that she knows who she is; otherwise, she will never know what makes her unique, she will never know how she can change the world for the better, she will never know how to become a better person. Self-knowledge of oneself is valuable, because if you do not know who you are what “good is it for a man to gain the whole world”.
Growing up in a family with parents who both have Ph. Ds and a sister who is training to become a doctor, there has always been pressure on me to succeed. For years, I assumed that my stress was the result of my sister bullying me and telling me that if I don’t get a 4.0 GPA I will be living on the side of the road; but, in essence, I have put this pressure on my life by myself. I had every capability to tell my sister that I will succeed no matter what. But this competition mentality has been engrained in my head for years. This sense of competition is the root of my greatest weakness. I have no patience for people who slow me down. I easily get stressed out when people go against what I say. The standards that I set for people are standards that I would set unto myself. I measure people by their comparison to myself, partly because I have always compared myself to my sister. My lack of understanding has contributed to friends accusing me of “judging” them too much and of being close minded. The mentality its “my way or the highway” has hindered my life rather than improved it as I assumed it would. As I look back on my past, I have acquired the self-knowledge that has ultimately convinced me that my weakness can become strength. Competition, in moderation, is the core of a capitalist society. All I need to do is differentiate the times when competition is trivial for my development, and when it is hurting me. I see my past, as an opportunity to see the results of my actions. I can now react to the decisions I have to make in my life right now, knowing what caused friends to be upset with me in the past. Certainly, impatience is rarely necessary in everyday life. But the perfect amount of impatience can help drive myself and others to finish the task at hand. All I need to do is find the perfect balance between this competition I have and my impatience with people, who I believe to be holding me down. I see the final months of high school as the perfect opportunity to change my mentality before I go to college. The common statement, “Everybody is different,” can be suited for my weakness. I cannot possibly expect people to be upheld by the standards that I hold to myself.
My competitive edge is also the root of my greatest strength—my self-motivation. I get incredibly stressed out and upset when someone thinks that I am not working to my potential. I have no problem going above and beyond on an issue that I am passionate about. I care about virtually everybody and everything. Whenever I see a documentary about animal suffering or a devastating civil war, I am the first to go online and research the problem. I am easily drawn to tears if I see a complete injustice to humans or nature. To some being reduced to tears over a petty issue such as trees can seem as a sign of weakness. But for me it is my greatest strength because I have never lost hope. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel has never been a problem for me. Throughout high school, I have imagined myself as a lawyer, Congresswoman, environmental activist. My dream is to have a profession in which I can actually change someone’s life for the better. My drive to receive the highest possible education has been my aspiration since elementary school. I live by the quote, “Today I will do what you won’t, so tomorrow I can do what you can’t.” Such a competitive mentality that I may potentially fall behind my cohort has driven me to take on the most challenging courses, several extracurricular activities, and sports. Certainly, I am not the most intelligent, involved, or athletic, but my motivation has pushed me to work hard in all these areas. Even though I am not the best, I still have an aspiration to become the best. I want to go to the best schools, be apart of the best family, and have the best friends. Such an ideal is hard achieve, but I still try to live out my life working to achieve whatever goal I have set my mind to at that time. I have no doubt in my mind that I will accomplish great things in the course of my lifetime. I surround myself with people, who support me. Without my friends and family I would have lost my motivation to work hard in school so as to go to a great university where I can prepare for a job that will keep me challenged and most importantly happy.
Writing about my flaws, was easier than writing about my strengths. I kept thinking, “All humans have flaws.” Explaining my weakness made me feel more human and I knew that I could better relate with others when I read their blogs. As I wrote about my strength, I felt that I was bragging about my life. By physically writing down my strengths and weakness, I have had to face the truth. Discussing my weakness, I feared what people would think of me. If they would approach me differently, perhaps cautiously, were they to know my lack of understanding and impatience for people who hold me down. Indeed, now that I look back on what I have written, I realize that it is virtually impossible for any person to hold me down as my greatest strength protects me from that. Seeing that concept materialize on my computer screen has forced me to re-evaluate my competition driven mentality. One way or another, either through this blog assignment or through self-realization, I would have had to figure out what my weakness and strength was. Inevitably, everybody has to recognize how they run their life. In such a situation, sooner is better than later. It did not shock me that my strength and weakness are closely linked, divided by a flimsy line. If I push to hard in one direction, I will find myself consumed with competition. If I push myself too hard in the other direction, I will find myself too realistic, with my head in the clouds. Moderation is key.
Growing up in a family with parents who both have Ph. Ds and a sister who is training to become a doctor, there has always been pressure on me to succeed. For years, I assumed that my stress was the result of my sister bullying me and telling me that if I don’t get a 4.0 GPA I will be living on the side of the road; but, in essence, I have put this pressure on my life by myself. I had every capability to tell my sister that I will succeed no matter what. But this competition mentality has been engrained in my head for years. This sense of competition is the root of my greatest weakness. I have no patience for people who slow me down. I easily get stressed out when people go against what I say. The standards that I set for people are standards that I would set unto myself. I measure people by their comparison to myself, partly because I have always compared myself to my sister. My lack of understanding has contributed to friends accusing me of “judging” them too much and of being close minded. The mentality its “my way or the highway” has hindered my life rather than improved it as I assumed it would. As I look back on my past, I have acquired the self-knowledge that has ultimately convinced me that my weakness can become strength. Competition, in moderation, is the core of a capitalist society. All I need to do is differentiate the times when competition is trivial for my development, and when it is hurting me. I see my past, as an opportunity to see the results of my actions. I can now react to the decisions I have to make in my life right now, knowing what caused friends to be upset with me in the past. Certainly, impatience is rarely necessary in everyday life. But the perfect amount of impatience can help drive myself and others to finish the task at hand. All I need to do is find the perfect balance between this competition I have and my impatience with people, who I believe to be holding me down. I see the final months of high school as the perfect opportunity to change my mentality before I go to college. The common statement, “Everybody is different,” can be suited for my weakness. I cannot possibly expect people to be upheld by the standards that I hold to myself.
My competitive edge is also the root of my greatest strength—my self-motivation. I get incredibly stressed out and upset when someone thinks that I am not working to my potential. I have no problem going above and beyond on an issue that I am passionate about. I care about virtually everybody and everything. Whenever I see a documentary about animal suffering or a devastating civil war, I am the first to go online and research the problem. I am easily drawn to tears if I see a complete injustice to humans or nature. To some being reduced to tears over a petty issue such as trees can seem as a sign of weakness. But for me it is my greatest strength because I have never lost hope. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel has never been a problem for me. Throughout high school, I have imagined myself as a lawyer, Congresswoman, environmental activist. My dream is to have a profession in which I can actually change someone’s life for the better. My drive to receive the highest possible education has been my aspiration since elementary school. I live by the quote, “Today I will do what you won’t, so tomorrow I can do what you can’t.” Such a competitive mentality that I may potentially fall behind my cohort has driven me to take on the most challenging courses, several extracurricular activities, and sports. Certainly, I am not the most intelligent, involved, or athletic, but my motivation has pushed me to work hard in all these areas. Even though I am not the best, I still have an aspiration to become the best. I want to go to the best schools, be apart of the best family, and have the best friends. Such an ideal is hard achieve, but I still try to live out my life working to achieve whatever goal I have set my mind to at that time. I have no doubt in my mind that I will accomplish great things in the course of my lifetime. I surround myself with people, who support me. Without my friends and family I would have lost my motivation to work hard in school so as to go to a great university where I can prepare for a job that will keep me challenged and most importantly happy.
Writing about my flaws, was easier than writing about my strengths. I kept thinking, “All humans have flaws.” Explaining my weakness made me feel more human and I knew that I could better relate with others when I read their blogs. As I wrote about my strength, I felt that I was bragging about my life. By physically writing down my strengths and weakness, I have had to face the truth. Discussing my weakness, I feared what people would think of me. If they would approach me differently, perhaps cautiously, were they to know my lack of understanding and impatience for people who hold me down. Indeed, now that I look back on what I have written, I realize that it is virtually impossible for any person to hold me down as my greatest strength protects me from that. Seeing that concept materialize on my computer screen has forced me to re-evaluate my competition driven mentality. One way or another, either through this blog assignment or through self-realization, I would have had to figure out what my weakness and strength was. Inevitably, everybody has to recognize how they run their life. In such a situation, sooner is better than later. It did not shock me that my strength and weakness are closely linked, divided by a flimsy line. If I push to hard in one direction, I will find myself consumed with competition. If I push myself too hard in the other direction, I will find myself too realistic, with my head in the clouds. Moderation is key.
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