By Hana Mazhar
What we do today might affect our tomorrow. We hear people say, “forget your past, don’t think so much about the future, live in the present”; how can you not ruminate about the future when you construct your present to survive tomorrow?
A part of you will live in the future and a part of you will live in the past. Whenever we are about to repeat the same mistakes, our minds are designed to remind us the repercussions our actions had; ergo we do not rehash them. If we are ignorant of the future, our minds evoke us to ponder how our actions will alter tomorrow, ergo we execute accordingly.
The books you read today, the things you browse today, the issues you talk about today, the people you communicate with, the conversations you indulge in today will mold your tomorrow. Try to accentuate positive feelings in the worst of situations; know that what you are facing today might become “a story to tell” tomorrow.
Confidence plays an integral role to gain focus. Confidence in yourself is when you listen to other people’s opinions and judgements but you do not let them shape your life according to their sentiments. Confidence is when you know what you are and what purpose you have behind your actions, you do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Parents in general have a famous notion stating, “Don’t do this, what will people think?”
Ever since your childhood you have been taught to focus on what people had to say about you and whatever people say of you will have a great impact on your life, on your goals, on your actions, on your dreams etc. However, suddenly at this very point in your life, you are required to forget everything and live your dreams. Your friends, your siblings, and even your parents tell you “do as you desire”.
In my opinion it is not only difficult to look past this notion as it has been absorbed into our skins for most our teenage lives. Parents need to realise that when they use such phrases, they are tutoring us to believe that what people think of us should matter most, that their opinions will form our well-being. Our confidence thus, is at risk. We are inclined to seek happiness in false sugarcoated compliments made by others.
We let other people rate us; we do things that might appease them, even when we are not comfortable with it. We allow them to be a part of our lives, without realising that we alone hold the pen to writing our own story. You need to know that no one can be you and that is your power. Know that people will talk about you for a day or even for the next ten days, and then you will be an unspoken story line.
So fulfil your own expectations and your own dreams. Know that you are given this life to live it by yourself, do not let others live it for you.***