Lessons from April
Hello everyone,
Happy new month!!! There are a couple of things that I was reminded of this week that I'd like to share. I hope you can relate to them in some way.
1. Hope is a risk: Being hopeful is a really risky investment of time. So many times I've been tempted (and I'm sure we've all been) not to get my hopes up to reduce the sting of disappointment. Since I have thought this way, I can definitely recognise the validity of this argument. If you expect too much, you open yourself up to more disappointment, but if you underestimate and underexpect, you're more likely to be surprised in a positive way. But if you didn't already guess it, I don't think constantly expecting the worst to prevent disappointment is the way to live life. Even if you get the job or role, if avoiding disappointment completely is the goal, then you won't even let yourself enjoy those things cause you're worried of what may happen. Personally, I think disappointment is inevitable and living hopelessly to avoid disappointment will not get you further than those who choose to hope. You'll just be a lot sadder. It's hard to hope, but so many great things are hard.
2. Dont try to rush into things so that you can be on everyone else's timetable. This relates to my post last week about waiting and is something I've been telling a friend of mine for forever. We can share spaces and experiences, but we are all unique people. To try to compress yourself to fit the limited view you have of someones else's life is to say goodbye to peace and joy.
3. I observed this week how nowadays, we're constantly being placed into particular camps and being expected to believe everything that is attributed to that camp. I don't feel this way about everything. I think there are some groups that are distinct and that in our bid to become each other, we blur the lines a lot. But with things like being 'left' or 'right',I feel there is just so much polarisation and so little understanding. I once took a test that was meant to tell me whether I was left or right and it annoyed me so much because it was clear that it was trying to place me in a box with no regard to the difficulties and complexities of issues we face today. I don't know where I stand on everything and sometimes I support things from both groups. But once someone has chosen left or right, they are not allowed to agree with anthing from the other group. Or once they believe one thing from a particular group, they are automatically placed there. This may not be true concerning everything, but I see so little space for compromise when we talk about things today. Like I said earlier, not everything should be compromised, but especially with politics I fell we are so quick to categorise and ignore without listening or trying to understand.
Stemming from my third point, I feel like there are so many things that have dettered me from trying to be politically active. The political system at home didn't encourage me. But I think more of the distance I keep from politics has been created since leaving home. At home, we all knew there were problems and people in my age group would talk about what they thought we could do. Sure, not all of them were the greatest ideas, but there was effort being made. Now, the segregation of opinions and groups is just so frustrating. I don't want to be left or right. I don't even really know what having a political opinion means, just cause I don't know what counts. My first statement will be used to define where I belong even if my reasoning and my understanding is complex. I think that if we really understood some of the harder topics or if we explored them in their depth, we would realise that you could have an opinion on the matter while recognising the validity of other sides of the argument. But you would actually have to know the other sides to understand them. Don't just stick with what you already know. Search for the other sides. Think of it like you were preparing a debate or analysing the topic. You'd want to have all the info before deciding which side you supported more. Do the same with your opinions, especially the ones that shape how you view yourself, people and the world.
God bless
Dera
Happy new month!!! There are a couple of things that I was reminded of this week that I'd like to share. I hope you can relate to them in some way.
1. Hope is a risk: Being hopeful is a really risky investment of time. So many times I've been tempted (and I'm sure we've all been) not to get my hopes up to reduce the sting of disappointment. Since I have thought this way, I can definitely recognise the validity of this argument. If you expect too much, you open yourself up to more disappointment, but if you underestimate and underexpect, you're more likely to be surprised in a positive way. But if you didn't already guess it, I don't think constantly expecting the worst to prevent disappointment is the way to live life. Even if you get the job or role, if avoiding disappointment completely is the goal, then you won't even let yourself enjoy those things cause you're worried of what may happen. Personally, I think disappointment is inevitable and living hopelessly to avoid disappointment will not get you further than those who choose to hope. You'll just be a lot sadder. It's hard to hope, but so many great things are hard.
2. Dont try to rush into things so that you can be on everyone else's timetable. This relates to my post last week about waiting and is something I've been telling a friend of mine for forever. We can share spaces and experiences, but we are all unique people. To try to compress yourself to fit the limited view you have of someones else's life is to say goodbye to peace and joy.
3. I observed this week how nowadays, we're constantly being placed into particular camps and being expected to believe everything that is attributed to that camp. I don't feel this way about everything. I think there are some groups that are distinct and that in our bid to become each other, we blur the lines a lot. But with things like being 'left' or 'right',I feel there is just so much polarisation and so little understanding. I once took a test that was meant to tell me whether I was left or right and it annoyed me so much because it was clear that it was trying to place me in a box with no regard to the difficulties and complexities of issues we face today. I don't know where I stand on everything and sometimes I support things from both groups. But once someone has chosen left or right, they are not allowed to agree with anthing from the other group. Or once they believe one thing from a particular group, they are automatically placed there. This may not be true concerning everything, but I see so little space for compromise when we talk about things today. Like I said earlier, not everything should be compromised, but especially with politics I fell we are so quick to categorise and ignore without listening or trying to understand.
Stemming from my third point, I feel like there are so many things that have dettered me from trying to be politically active. The political system at home didn't encourage me. But I think more of the distance I keep from politics has been created since leaving home. At home, we all knew there were problems and people in my age group would talk about what they thought we could do. Sure, not all of them were the greatest ideas, but there was effort being made. Now, the segregation of opinions and groups is just so frustrating. I don't want to be left or right. I don't even really know what having a political opinion means, just cause I don't know what counts. My first statement will be used to define where I belong even if my reasoning and my understanding is complex. I think that if we really understood some of the harder topics or if we explored them in their depth, we would realise that you could have an opinion on the matter while recognising the validity of other sides of the argument. But you would actually have to know the other sides to understand them. Don't just stick with what you already know. Search for the other sides. Think of it like you were preparing a debate or analysing the topic. You'd want to have all the info before deciding which side you supported more. Do the same with your opinions, especially the ones that shape how you view yourself, people and the world.
God bless
Dera
Comments
Post a Comment