"To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all."
- Peter McWilliams
Although a rudimentary google search reveals that the quote above is by what seems to be a relatively 'low-end' self-help guru this may be one of the biggest truths that I ought to listen to these days. For the sake of the argument, let's just disregard this quote in relation to my weakening resolve to my current weight-adjustment actions and think about it in a bigger perspective.
As my vertically challenged friend pointed out to me - does this mean that one should not avoid situations where knows that mistakes will be made? Cue the 'might' in the quote. It indicates an uncertainty about the future. It indicates avoiding risk taking, avoiding trying things out, avoidance of living life. It's so banal when I write it like that, but, at least to me, it holds a pretty deep truth. I do avoid things that are scary to me, situations where I feel that I cannot predict what will happen. And this despite the fact that I obviously can absolutely never predict what will happen. We live in a world where most of the things that happen are beyond our control. We naturally have a fairly great impact on our existence, but we are all at the mercy of each other, and the place we hold is subject to the actions of others and the effects these actions have on ourselves and our reactions to these actions. The free flow into which we plunge ourselves every day drifts along, and we can labor to make a mark or we can flow, following the patterned path laid out for us.
Making a mark requires risk taking, this much I have learned.
3 comments:
Vertically challenged friend? Would this be the mysterious Malaysian?
As for self help quotes, here is a good one;
Everythin', everythin', everythin's gonna be alright this mornin'
Oh yeah -Muddy Waters
'Making a mark requires risk taking, this much I have learned.'
The risk is you might miss the mark, but hey, that's when learning happens =D
Now if only I could take that chip off my shoulder and put it under my feet so that I could stand taller...
Sorry for the long neglect of the blog, just haven't had it in me lately :.)
Yes - the mysterious Malaysian indeed.. I like that one Moif! And not only do I like it, I finally truly believe it too.
Nurul - aim for the moon, and if you miss you just might end among the stars ;.)
Good idea about that chip of yours. I think that's something we could all metaphorically use once in a while. In your case, of course, it's not just metaphorical, hehe.
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