Take charge of your life
Why wouldn’t you want to guard your life?
There is a great Chinese proverb that goes like this: “It’s your own lantern, don’t poke holes in the paper.”
I love reading. And I am always on the lookout for great books, articles, magazines, etc.The people at my local libraries, thrift stores, Salvation Army, and Goodwill knows that I am a regular shopper there when it comes to books. So, one fine Saturday morning, at a particular library ,(the smallest one in my area) they had a big sale for their little book store, in the hope of decluttering, since they were getting tons of donations for books.
So, naturally, I went in, and after a long five minutes of searching through the piles of books, I found a vintage booklet about Chinese proverbs; I immediately grabbed it and went and pay 50 cents for it. I have to say that Chinese proverbs are among my favorite proverbs. When I found the proverb about your own lantern, I immediately underlined it thinking I wanted to draw from it some important life lesson. So, here we go.
Before I dive into this, I want you to write down the first thought that comes to your mind when you read this proverb. I am sure many of you can come up with a different conclusion for this, so I want you to analyze how you relate to it afterward.
Alright, back to my perspective. “It’s your own lantern, don’t poke holes in the paper.” When I read this, my immediate thoughts were about the different unhealthy habits that so many of us are trapped in, such as smoking, heavy drinking, drug abuse, promiscuity, deceit and dishonesty and much more. Because the reality is, although the impacts of our actions can deeply influence the people in our lives, we are the first-hand victim of our own choices and actions.
The fact is that the habit of smoking, drinking, and promiscuity is self-inflicting pain, hurt, and permanent damages, although they will surely impact the people closest to you for better or worse. I am one of the people who grew up around family members who were always drunk and violent as a result, they were also heavy smokers.
And because of that exposure at a very early stage of my life, I decided to not make alcohol part of my life as aI got older, thinking that I did not want to become what some of my uncles were due to their unhealthy habits of drinking without restrain. But I also know people that were exposed just like me to alcohol or smoking and because of that, became deeply addicted to heavy drinking and smoking.
So, when it comes to certain things in life that has a very high potential of keeping me in bondage, or serve as stumbling blocks, or even ruin my life and the people closest to me, here my motto: “ I do not want to play with a venomous snake, no matter how safe it looks.”
As a life coach, I come across so many people who function with the mindset of playing with fire and trying not to get burn, not being aware that when you play with fire long enough, you not only will start smelling like smoke, but you will eventually get burned; and by the time you realize you are getting burned would be too late, most likely because you have been accustomed to the smoky smell.
We all know how hard it is to cure, break free, and experience is a lasting transformation from a long-time addiction, whether from personal experience or from watching a friend or family member. So, the question then is, “Why then would we cultivate destructive habits that are sure to poison our life and rob us of our talents, gifts, and potential?”
Let’s dissect the proverb this way “ It’s your own life, don’t poke holes in it,” what are these holes? Well, I thought of every aspect of our lives, emotionally, financially, spiritually, socially, mentally, even legally. So, ask yourself this question: “What are the “holes” I am poking in my life?” The holes being anything that has the potential to damage, hurt, cripple, and eventually take your life. For some it the holes are drugs, cheating and alcohol, and for others the holes are procrastination, deceit, arrogance and greed. Whatever they are they are poking at your life on a regular basis mainly by your own doing.
This is why I highly advocate for every individual to intentionally cultivate self-awareness as a Coach; because it is easy to fall into the trap of living life on auto-pilot, going through the motion in life under the many demands in life. Many times, we are not even aware of the little holes we are poking in our own life. Some “holes” are not as obvious as others, and they are the ones we ought to be vigilant about.
Now, we all are struggling with our own personal battles, fears, and weaknesses. Yes, we are not perfect. That being said, should we then go ahead and practice all kinds of malice and unhealthy habits? Of course not! Failing to take life lessons from our past mistakes and the people in our lives whether near or far would be foolish of us.
I find it quite odd and interesting that whenever I engage in such conversation with people, the common response I get is “ YOLO,” meaning you only live once. Which I find funny since everyone who has ever been created only lived once, like who do you know has lived more than once? So, to me, that is a very sad excuse for wanting to make unwise life choices.
The truth is you and I do not have enough time in our life here on earth to experience everything in order for us to determine that we surely do not need many things society, our parents, or our own desires are pressuring us to do, experience, or have. That is just a fact. There is only so much we can endure until we damage ourselves to the point of no return.
All that to say this: Stop Poking Holes In Your Own Life!. Stop It!
You know them, and I know mines. Let’s all stop poisoning and destroying our lives. Some of us are doing it on a slowly but surely scale, and others are going on full speed at it. You know your speed. And as the Bible says: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” Galatians 6:7 ESV.
So, after reading this, I have one more question for you, “What will you do to stop poking holes in your own life, starting now?”
No one else can take charge of your life, only you have that power and choice.
I hope this was beneficial to you.
Until next time,
With love,
Krysty.
