Here Are The 5 Ways I Took Charge of My Mind
Two years ago, I decided to embark on a life-changing journey to reach my fullest potential: so I let go of everything that was holding me back, caught my breath, rejected the status quo, and took charge of my mind.
Ever since I was 12 years old, all I ever wanted was to be that girl that everyone liked.
Ever since I was 12 years old, all I ever wanted was to be that perfect, popular, glamour girl who never made any mistakes.
Ever since I was 12 years old, all I ever wanted to do was stick to the status quo and be the “good girl” that I was supposed to be.
So, I spent most of my life being the “good girl” I was supposed to be, I spent most of my life sticking to the status quo, and I spent most of my time trying to fit in and please everyone.
Until…
One afternoon, in August 2017, I told myself, “Enough is enough!”
So, I stopped studying for the SAT, caught my breath, and took charge of my mind.
Here’s how I did that:
- I Stopped Dwelling In The Past.
Because when we dwell in the past, we remain stuck, and if we continue to stay stuck, then we’ll never grow. Which is why it’s essential that we realize that making mistakes isn’t the end of the world; because mistakes are really lessons in disguise which can make us better people if we learn from them rather than beating ourselves up over them.
2. I Created A Badass Image of Myself.
In the past, I believed that the better version of myself would be nothing like me. That the better version of myself would be this flawless, popular, glamour girl who never made any mistakes and was loved and admired by everyone. In other words, she’d be everything I wasn’t. Fortunately, after my junior year of high school, I came up with a realistic, badass image of myself that was still me but better.
Because when we stop aspiring to be perfect, we’ll stop measuring ourselves against the unrealistic images that we may have in our mind of who we ought to be. Ergo, we’ll stop letting other people affect how we see and envision ourselves. As a result, we’ll stop feeling like broken pieces of shit. Once that happens, we can finally be who we really are and become who we want to be. Thus, we stop giving a fuck because our minds no longer possess other people’s thoughts — only ours. And when that happens, we can finally….
3. Catch Our Breath.
Because if we don’t take a step back from all the distractions that the world brings to breathe and engage in deep reflection, then we’ll never find out what our passions are. Ergo, we won’t be able to find ourselves. As a result, our minds will remain cluttered. Cluttered by society and its expectations and cluttered by other people’s expectations of who we ought to be. And if our brains continue to remain cluttered, then we’ll let society and other people cloud our judgment, and before you know it, you’ll just be doing things because you’re “supposed to” like I was. But if we catch our breath, then we can…
And reach our fullest potential. By so doing, we won’t be mere sheep who just blindly follow the so-called “norms.” Instead, we’ll be the individuals who are making a difference in the world. We’ll be the individuals who are having the time of our lives. We’ll be the individuals who question deeply ingrained societal beliefs like the idea that you need college to be successful. (Which I did in August 2017 when I decided to rethink college because college prep was preventing me from focusing on the things that really mattered to me like self-improvement). But most of all, we’ll be the individuals who are in control of our minds because we don’t let society or anyone, for that matter, tell us what’s supposed to be right.
5. I Ignored Sunk Cost Fallacy.
Because if we don’t ignore sunk cost fallacy, then we will allow ourselves to remain miserable for the sake of maintaining the status quo. Because sunk cost fallacy will tell us things like, “You might as well finish college even if you hate it. Because, after all, you only have one more year left.” Or it might tell you that, “You might as well go to college straight after high school. Otherwise, all the time and money you spent on college prep won’t be worth it.” Or in my case, it might tell you that, “You might as well finish that class you hate. After all, you only have five months left till the end of the school year.”
And if we continue to allow ourselves to remain miserable for the sake of maintaining the status quo, then we’ll end up living sad, unfulfilling, and meaningless lives. Since we’ll just be following social norms without even thinking about it and doing things simply because we’re “supposed to.”
That’s why we should all rise up and tell those voices in our heads that are telling us that we’re not good enough. That we’ll never be good enough unless we’re perfect. That we’ll never be good enough unless everyone likes us. That we can’t pursue our passions unless other people approve. That we must stick to the status quo to…
Fuck Off
Once we do that, we can take charge of our minds and reach our fullest potential.
