“Is this what I was created for?” ❤️

“Is this what I was created for?” ❤️

Ryan Holiday | Sharing from My Reading 📖

Bought this lovely book at OM Books, VR Mall, Anna Nagar today.

It’s titled Discipline is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control.

Started reading it right away! 😊

Found this particular part quite motivating and highly inspiring. Hence thought of sharing it on my blog space here, with fellow readers from across the globe!

We can say that each of us has a higher and lower self, and that these two selves are in a constant battle with each other.

The side that can focus, and the side that is easily distracted.

The side that strives and reaches, the side that stoops and compromises.

The side that seeks balance, the side that loves chaos and excess.

The word for this inner battle to the ancients was akrasia.

Self-discipline is giving everything you have! 

It takes courage to live this way - not just because it’s hard, but because it sets you apart!

In Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, we hear the most powerful man in the world trying to convince himself to get out of bed at dawn when the lower part of himself wants desperately to stay.

“Is this what I was created for?” he asks of his reluctance.

“To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”

“Yes, it is nicer under there. But is that what we were born for?”

“To feel nice?”

“That’s how you’re going to spend the gift of life, the gift of this present moment that you will never have again?”

“Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants, and the spiders and the bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can?”

he said to himself but also to us.

“And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?”

Yet here we are, thousands of years later, still hitting the snooze button on our alarms.

Here we are, wasting the most productive hours of the day!

When you have trouble waking up, when you find it hard, remind yourself of who you come from, remind yourself of the tradition, remind yourself of what is at stake,

says Ryan.

Quite uplifting and inspiring, ain’t it?

On a similar vein, thought of sharing from a lovely incident that happened yesterday in our Office, during the coffee break!

A student had come to meet with me. 

She said that, she has a great dream and a clear idea about her destination, but that, she has trouble concentrating on her studies!

Empathising with her, I asked, 

‘Are your friends distracting you too much by not allowing you to study?’

She said, ‘No, sir’.

‘Then, what else is the problem? Any financial problems or any emotional problems bothering you?’

‘No, sir’.

‘Then?’

‘A lot of other things, sir’.

Getting a faint clue, I asked,

‘Like your mobile phone… ’ you mean?

‘Yes, sir, kinda’, she admitted, quite candidly.

I appreciated her for her frankness and told her,

‘See, our dear kid, this is quite a natural phenomenon today. People from all walks of life are very much glued to their mobile phones. The only reason is… FOMO’, I said. 😊

‘FOMO’? she asked, with a quizzical look on her.

Then I told her, what it meant!

Yes, it means, Fear Of Missing Out!

It’s that particular feeling or perception that others around you are having more fun, living happier lives, or enjoying better things than you do!

The term was originally coined way back in the year 1996 by Dr. Dan Herman, who, while studying consumers, found out that, many consumers admitted to a fear of missing out on opportunities that could bring them pleasure!

Today, the ‘Fear of Missing Out’ [FOMO] has been accelerated thanks to the alarming pace at which social media has been invading our personal spaces, where we start comparing our lives with that of the ‘virtually-portrayed life’ of others, and we feel that we are not worthy enough or capable enough, when ‘compared to’ them.

All those Social media sites have the power for boasting and for bragging!

They ‘create’ an ‘ambience’ that’s so ‘natural’ and so ‘picture-perfect’ that, it leads us to believe that, we are missing out on all this fun and pleasure, while others seem to be enjoying all the fun!

In fact, the best way to overcome FOMO is JOMO!

Yes! JOMO!

JOMO helped me greatly in redefining my priorities.

So what is JOMO? you seem to ask!

The Joy of Missing Out! 😊

Ryan Holiday’s captivating line had me charmed and charged as well!

When you involve yourself in doing any activity, ask yourself the simple question that Ryan Holiday puts forth in this Chapter –

“Is this what I was created for?”

“Is this how I’m going to spend the gift of life, the gift of this present moment that I’ll never have again?”

The moment you put your hand to your heart, and ask yourself this question, that very moment you can see the super-human within you, getting all geared up to do wonders!

Exceeding abundantly above all that you can ask or imagine!

So yes! As eminent critic Scupin Richard rightly points out, 

Be not overcome of FOMO! But overcome FOMO with JOMO! 😊