Self-knowing is a courageous venture!
Of courage, my father used to say, ‘it is better to live one day with the restrictions imposed by courage than to exist for a thousand years with the liberties gained through cowardice.’
A journey of self-knowing is rarely something one undertakes lightly. Since it frequently involves coming face-to-face with our true self (unpacking and dissecting that self in all of its good, its bad and ugly — especially its ugly). It is usually birthed out of deep pain and suffering, and so, it is often a soul-searching and soul-searing venture. Very few of us are willing to undergo that kind of scrutiny, and the very idea can make us cringe. The truth of the matter is, outside of the mandatorily few minutes necessary for our daily outing grooming, not many of us can look at the person on the other side of the mirror. The thought of what that kind of inspection might expose fills us with fear. Fear of the aftermaths of the revelation and what it might do to our self-esteem. The scrutiny might also raise uncomfortable questions. For example, will we suffer rejection if people know the real us? Will we be victimized and stigmatized? Will we still retain the respect of others? Will we ever measure up again?
In some rare cases, our inability to learn ourselves might not even be fear-based. We may be unaware that there is more to that person in the mirror staring back at us. That being said, I have found from experience that fear is still the root cause behind why most of us won’t look closely into that mirror. Here’s something else I have learned, though, the same fear that holds you bound can become the very thing that helps propel you into your dream realisation or onto your most prominent podium — if you face it and do what needs to be done anyway. You see, when you flip the other side of fear, what you find is courage!
