Self-knowing is not an endgame but a lifetime journey; Don’t give up at the first sign of challenges.
About writing, if anyone had told me that would be my profession today, I probably would have laughed in the person’s face. And this was me that refused to stay put in the mould uncle’s wife had designed for me? Imagine again if that same someone had whispered to my uncle’s wife that I would one day be a writer. The woman would not only have laughed that person out of her home but right out of the entire world, and then turned to sear the bedraggled eight-year-old me with a look that expressed her disbelief and full contempt at the sheer, insane audacity of such a suggestion. Me, her fetch-and-carry girl, her punching bag, ‘the dirty, little, insignificant thing’ (yes, she used to call me that all the time) penning anything worthy of being termed ‘writing,’ and having that thing published? Mmmmm.
And so, one of the three most vital lessons self-knowing has taught me is that no one’s life is ever over until it is really over.
Therefore, no matter what anyone says…
Don’t give up at the first sign of challenges!
The second important lesson I have learned is that self-discovery is almost always preceded by challenges, especially those that seem impossible to overcome. If you leave the journey at the first sign of challenges, you risk never discovering who you really are, as well as the fantastic wonders and treasures inherent in that discovery.
Self-knowing is not an endgame but a lifetime journey!
Finally, my third (and probably most important) lesson: the journey of self-knowing is not a get it, wrap-it up-nicely-in-a-bow-and-put-it-away undertaking. It is a life-long commitment. There is a famous saying that the only constant thing about life is change. As such, striving to be the best version of ourselves demands continuous self-examination. The person each of us was yesterday is not the same person we are today. For that reason, the wisdom that was sufficient for yesterday has to be looked at in today’s light. And adjusted to fit today’s purposes.
