Dear Thirty Year Old Me,
We have a big ego. We attach our success and failure to everything that we do and to the things that we have accomplished and failed in.
This has caused us to drive for more success but this has also caused us to avoid failure - which means risk isn't really something that we like facing head on.
Here's the thing - what if everything that we accomplish and everything that we failed in - really isn't about us? What if we were not the central character in the stories of our lives? What if our actions cause the stories to develop but if we succeeded or failed --- it doesn't really make us successful and it also doesn't make it a failure?
I have to pose this question because in the recent months, I've come to realize that a lot of my heartaches in life is caused by my attachment to the story in my head that everything that happens in my life is something that I caused. For some events - this may be a healthy mindset ---- being proud of losing ten pounds because of the discipline we exercised in avoiding sugar in our diet. But largely - this mindset - is not helpful. It can start from: My dogs doing a proper sit when I use the command. It's our dog's ability being displayed here - so we can't take the credit for it. It can be as ridiculous as thinking that it didn't rain today when we are wearing white pants - because we asked the Universe for it.
This mindset is actually perpetuated by a lot of our friends and family praising us for things that if you think about it really isn't because of our skill. For example - getting into a scholarship in the Ateneo was not because we were smart. It really was because the University's Admission and Aid - looked through a checklist of qualifications for our application and noted that we meet the criteria - which included submitting an income document from Papa - which said he earned a really small income for the year we were applying for the scholarship. Therefore - we fit the criteria for someone who should be considered for financial aid.
Why am I bringing this up? How does a mindset of not attaching ourselves to the outcome become helpful in our lives? You see - when we call ourselves successful or we call ourselves a failure based on the outcomes of our actions --- that label of successful or failure gives a lot of pressure on us to always want to be the successful person. This actually has been part of the reason why we tend not to do awesome things we are not good at doing because we don't want to be the failure. Here's the thing --- what if we just say that every result we get from an action that we take is just feedback - and that feedback will allow us to think of the next action to take? That result does not define you. It just provides you information so you can choose how to live your life after that result.
Note --- It took me more than a month to complete this because - the truth is - I was not ready to hear the advice that I'm writing. I wanted this article to be awesome - so that I can feel awesome. But hey - I decided - that instead of wanting this to be awesome --- maybe I just need to have it done --- regardless of the outcome.
With Much Love
The Forty Year Old You
