Sticks and stones
'sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me’. I heard that saying so many times as a child. In fact, I used to sing it to myself whenever someone called me names and I felt bad about it.
All grown up now and I remember it and sang it to myself again. Then it struck me, sticks and stones will of course break your bones if utilized properly but to say names will never hurt you is just a lie. I always felt the pain of name calling while singing that song as a child and after singing it and even several days later too. So let’s be sincere here, what people say to is affects us. We show it always subconsciously but we always try to hide it. Why? The world has succeeded in painting a standard of total strength, independence and total wisdom. So we look up to people who have achieved great feats while looking indestructible at the same time. Although we have heard the talks on how 'bravery isn’t the absence of fear but courage in the midst of fear' and the 'it’s all right to be different' campaigns we still strive subconsciously to be indestructible. Since by nature we aren’t indestructible, we feel inadequate when we enter situations that prove it. I also feel that way a lot, that’s why I noticed this trend.
The solution? Digging deep into our minds to where the value of total self-perfection is planted, uproot it and plant the value of constant never-ending self-development. Reading the book 'the subtle act of not giving a f**k' by John Mason, I learnt that being totally certain of ourselves (the indestructible feeling) is a flaw and we would never develop if we already feel completely developed. So from now on, step by step I will watch myself- what I say and do, how I do what I do till I completely uproot self-perfection from my life.