The Place Where All Relationships Begin
A wise friend once said to me that what they do in life is not nearly as important as who they do it with (For those grammar sticklers out there ‘with whom’). The relationships we build with people, places and things not only give our lives meaning and purpose, but they make it more fun as we take a backseat to assuming control. No human being can truly live as a singularity in this world — we all learned that lesson from Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland and his friend Wilson in Cast Away.
We need to start seeing just how interdependent we are by expanding our understanding of relationships that mass media and popular culture dictate for us. It’s simply foolish to think that romantic relationships are the only ones that are valuable and give our lives meaning, yet mass media and popular culture continue to inundate our receptive minds with countless waves of romance depicting overly expressive couples that live effortlessly and easily in their bliss. But there’s the fallacy: relationships require effort, time and energy — the greatest ones are not easy at all.
Our romantic relationships only make up a small collection of the network of accumulated memories and moments that help us to connect to the world. This obsession with romance tends to crowd out the one relationship that remains the foundation upon which all relationships are built: the one we have with ourselves. The relationship we have with ourselves, just like any good relationship, requires nurturing and commitment.
Today marketers capitalize on exploration rhetoric of finding or discovering oneself which inherently implies that we are lost in the unknown territory of our identities. I believe if we are to peel back the layers of our identities, we must change the terms in which we encase this relationship. So today my friends, make an effort to know yourselves, not find yourselves. Don’t be afraid to learn more about who you are — even if what you’ll learn frightens you.
Tell me what you will do today to learn more about who you are.
For more information about me, visit my twitter page here Elizabeth Ivanecky.
