when life puzzles you.
- Rachel Jeong
- Jun 2, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 19, 2023
SELF-CARE, Psychology, Philosophies
“A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living.” - Virginia Woolf
i think my favorite feeling as a teen is this excitement and wonder
what do i mean to me?
of what comes next
am i smart enough to handle it?
there's nothing like the feeling of being on the edge
i'd rather stay stay comfortable feeling sorry for myself
between endless possibility
staying in one place (i feel lazy)
and amazing comfort security
than get pushed outside of my comfort zone
being launched to breathtaking awe and
excitement
knowing that i will regret things later
from quiet warm memory and fledgling discovery
i don't want to grow up
so i will sing, paint, shred on my guitar, bake my heart out until i am silenced forever
record this journey of emotions while growing up.
A N S W E R K E Y :
you should mean the world to you. above your friends or crushes, above others, above anything.
whatever life throws your way is meant for you and what you got. life will never give you something you cannot handle or otherwise learn and grow from.
"you may feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task or feel like an imposter who doesn’t have what it takes to succeed" (Greenberg).
you have what it takes. Even Paradise Lost's author John Milton would say the imposter phenomenon is satanic. don't be satanic!
3. it's okay to feel these things. just remember that there is a time for everything in
seasons: don't let it go past its due season. remember emotional de-fusion. let them
pass through you.
4. chances are you're probably not "lazy." there could be something about completing
the action that your body/mind are avoiding because in the past, it has posed a threat
to your emotional, physical, or mental safety.
"Some of us fear success, because we shun the limelight or fear that others will expect more from us than we can deliver" (Greenberg).
look into yourself, and heal from that point on.
whatever u do does not have to be and will not be perfect:
"Procrastinators are often perfectionists, for whom it may be psychologically more a acceptable to never tackle a job than to face the possibility of not doing it well. They may be so highly concerned about what others will think of them that they put their futures at risk to avoid judgment" (Psychology Today).
allow yourself to accept imperfection. work hard to build this growth mindset.
5. what, are you going to stay in the same one spot your entire life?
"Heraclitus concluded that since the very nature of life is change, to resist this natural flow was to resist the very essence of our existence. 'There is nothing permanent except change,' he said" (Baker).
“'Something in us wishes to remain a child… to reject everything strange,' wrote the 20th-Century psychologist and author Carl Jung in The Stages of Life, echoing Heraclitus. For these thinkers, a refusal to embrace change as a necessary and normal part of life will lead to problems, pain and disappointment. If we accept that everything is constantly changing and fleeting, they say, things run altogether more smoothly" (Baker).
6. you will regret not at least trying to reach your fullest potential even more. regret comes either way.
7. that's the beauty of it.
It's scary, but don't fear it itself for too long. Let life hurl you into the right place. Trust the process. Accept it. Embrace it. Use it while it lasts. Stay close to your inner self and care for it.
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although specific to a coming-of-age lens,
this is what it looks like to be human. to experience so much and feel and think so much simultaneously whilst still living and (hopefully) functioning everyday. how multidimensional and multifaceted and how awesome.
just like this picture, you need the dark contrasts between the light to make the full picture. you cannot have a fathomable image with just the lights. the shadows are only a vital part of the process.
Sources:
For more helpful sources, see the Resource Corner page.
Copyright © 2023 Rachel Jeong. All rights reserved.
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