Obstacles are placed for us to learn from our mistakes and better ourselves

I believe that this philosophy is a key part of my life.  Many people look at obstacles from a negative standpoint.  I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not the only person who does that.  It seems to be a natural reaction that humans convey towards any hardships or failures.  We should actually look at obstacles in front of us with the thought of, “This is happening for a reason, not just a random coincidence.”  This is key, because not every obstacle is considered a failure.  Rather it is should be considered as a learning experience on what you know and what you need to work on.  This is, then, useful because if you ever run into the same problem, you will know where your shortcomings are and will do anything to avoid it.  It makes you grow as a person and will develop a new skill that helps you.

 

Love and be yourself, not what others tell you to be

This philosophy is very important because this not only affects me, but some people as well.  In society, we are heavily influenced by tabloids about certain ideals and how to fit into society.  We are often told that we need to be the smartest, strongest, or most beautiful to fit in.  Well, this is not possible for everyone, so this is where this philosophy fits in.  It is important to make sure that you love yourself for who you are and don’t let others influence you and turn you into someone your not.  In the end, this is your body, personality, etc.  You should have complete control over what you think you should be.  Sometimes there are people who have lost focus of being themselves and complete submitted themselves to others comments.  What can be done for them is to encourage them to not listen to the negative comments and focus on the fact that you are you and you should be proud of who you are.

 

 

Take the initiative to do new things

This is a philosophy that occurs very often in my life, but sometimes, I still have trouble following through.  I will admit it; I am a person who is very shy around new people and often, don’t like to do anything outside my comfort zone.  This is not a good thing, because in order to experience life to the fullest, the first step is to take the proverbial “first step” trying new things.  It is always a risk, and sometimes, the end result might be a negative outcome.  Although this is sometimes true, most of the times, you will find that the end result is not what you expected and might even end up loving that activity.  Another reason why this is important is because life is not going to be served to us on a silver platter.  We, as human beings, must do certain things to learn and to decide whether or not that is a good idea.  Unless you are pampered and literally have people do things for you, it is important to do things yourself, especially if you don’t want to.

 

Be patient with others

I think that it is important to apply this to everything in our lives.  We live in such a fast pace world that sometimes, we will become so agitated when others are not able to see things from our perspective.  I will admit that I am also guilty of this on many occasions.  Sometimes, it is important to slow down and listen to others and what they have to say.  We come from different backgrounds, so sometimes, their perspective can give you an eye-opener on your own perspective.  We should also give people the benefit of the doubt when they criticize you on something.  Most of the time, people will do that because they care for your well-being, and don’t want anything to happen to you.  This is most apparent in parents.  I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one who has parents who are always worried about what I do or why I’m not doing something.  They do this because they love you.  You might not be able to see it now, but showing that patience with them will quicken the realization of why they told you about certain things.

Have a laugh each day

Having a laugh each day is very important for everyone.  Although I am not in Biology, I know it has something to do with your brain releasing endorphin or something like that.  Anyways, the non scientific standpoint is that it’s good for you.  Every time you laugh, you feel more relaxed and some of the pressure that you originally carry is somewhat lifted away.  It can also turn your mood into a more positive direction.  For example, you are having a bad day, but then along comes a person that makes you laugh.  How would you feel?  You would most likely feel a lot better than before the laugh.  In our lives, there are some days where it is very gloomy or we become sad because something has either happened to us or is affecting us in a negative way.  This is when a laugh can be a really big confidence booster in someone’s life.  Just remember to not laugh too much, because you can actually die from too much laughter.

 

Narrative

The narrative that I will talk about is the third philosophy.  As stated above, I am normally a very shy person that doesn’t try new things.  Being an introvert, I like doing things that are often solitary things.  I don’t like things that have to require me to do things in front of people, because I always over-think what people might think of me.  I loved music and decided that I would help out with Worship Ministry at my church, but I was always scared that I would mess up and people wouldn’t like and so on.  The result was an surprise when I got a positive remark from a man, that would become our current pastor.  Another example would be joining choir this year.  I hadn’t really thought of joining choir these past three years because it seemed too tiring to stay at school (I am a person who is kind of lazy and likes to stay at home).  I had also heard from other people that told me that my voice was really good and that I should come to choir, so I finally decided to go.  What I had expected was I would probably not like it or not fit in.  The complete opposite occurred.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and everyone seemed to include the new people in very quickly.  Now, I keep telling people that the thing I look forward to the most, in a week, is going to choir on Thursday.