The Dichotomy of Life Advice on Medium
The two sides of the same coin
Medium is proliferated by articles on self-help advice and life lessons, which is one of the best things about Medium — because you don’t learn all these smorgasbord of life experiences from so many people in schools.
It was a breath of fresh air when I started reading Medium, but after a while it started to get repetitive. Don’t get me wrong, not in a bad sense — I am glad more people are starting to write about life (including myself) and figure out oneself through writing and introspection — it’s just sometimes I find groups of people advocating opposite things.
Although many of these “life lessons” fall into 2 opposite camps, both can serve as motivation for different kinds of people. Here are some that I can come up with:
Are you special?
You are special. One snowflake out of the billions in this world, unique with your own beliefs and experiences. As long as you believe in yourself, you can create things no one has thought of before.
You are not special, and that’s okay. Everyone thinks that they’re special, when they are actually part of the faceless crowd in the grand scheme of things. Your problems aren’t as significant as you think, the world will spin with or without you, so it’s okay to make mistakes. In fact, make as many mistakes as you can, so you can learn as much as you can.
Are you stronger than you think you are?
You are stronger than you think you are. Don’t underestimate yourself, your fear is the only thing holding you back. Just go out there and try, you will surprise yourself at what amazing things you can do.
Don’t go out of the world thinking you are as strong as you think you are. Chances are you’re not. Having that mentality is going to destroy you when you inevitably encounter setbacks. Instead, stay humble and expect failures to come frequently and learn to deal with them, only then you can grow.
Do you follow your passion?
Follow your passion. As long as you follow your beliefs and stay true to them, you can succeed in whatever you do.
Don’t follow your passion. Do what you are good at, cultivate them, then the passion will come, then you will succeed.
See what I did there?
There are multitudes of other topics people can talk about for life lessons, and most of it can be done in both ways, as seen above.
It all depends on who you are and what you believe in, and then putting your beliefs into words to motivate people. I think this dichotomy in perspectives is vital in the thought space of Medium, as readers will get in touch with both sides of the same argument.
It also depends a lot on what you are seeking. Most people will only want to read the posts that aligns with their own beliefs, which isn’t wrong as they just want to solidify it through confirmation bias. But I think the sad part is they are forgoing the possible alternatives that makes them more enlightened and aware.
Also, the weird thing is, a lot of these articles are so well-rationalised that at times I agree with the ambivalent views of the same topic, which gives me the “Wait, what about that other post I read before that says…” reaction. This can actually allow you to think and formulate your own stand rather than just taking life advice as it is — served on a plate for you to accept.
So next time when you read an article, try to argue it the other way around and see if it still works, who knows maybe you can even write it out and contribute your own point of view to share with the world!
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this piece, be sure to press the green 💚button to help others see it! This is really more of a brain puke I have been thinking about lately, so feel free to add in what kind of dichotomies you have seen as a response!
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