Vanquishing Myself

Vanquishing Myself

Baldado, Roshelle Gleeza C.

              Living. How can a Senior High STEM student like me live without regrets, and with fulfillment? Just like what Rene Descartes said, “Conquer yourself, not the world,” you must conquer yourself first so that you can live without regrets. But how?

              First, faith. I am not referring about religious faith but rather a force of personal belief that will help you overcome obstacles and release your personal power. Everything is about faith. Faith in myself, faith in yourself! If you don't have faith, do you really think there is anything you can do? Because with faith you are still going to win even though your circumstances appear to say otherwise. It is the belief that you will be victorious in all things when all things are against you. But, how can we generate our faith? Here's the good news: you don't need to generate faith. You just need to accept it.

               Second is to know yourself. In order for you to conquer something, you must comprehend it first. Knowing yourself means mastering it, and later on conquering it. You must be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses, like and dislikes. You must examine how you interact with others, you must be aware of your moods, reactions and responses to what is happening around you and become aware of how the moods and emotions affect your state of mind. Knowing and comprehending yourself will lead you to better decisions in order to have a more productive life.

               Lastly, you must love and value yourself. If you don't love and value yourself, how will others love and value you then? Your whole life would be full of pain and regrets. You might have friends, family to value you, but on the latter, you will be left on your own. Because there is no forever. Everyone will leave eventually, well not all of them will be intentional though.

              According to Lao Tzu, “Knowing others is intelligence, but to know yourself is true wisdom. Conquering others is strength, but to conquer yourself is true power.” Living and trying to know and conquering others before yourself is rubbish. Live for yourself first before others. In that way you can live without regrets and with fulfillment.