Is There a Best Version of Ourselves?

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

“You’re an endless draft, a poem in constant revision, a story with infinite pages.” Billy Chapata

Self-help pundits often exhort us to always be the best version of ourselves. They seem to assume two things:

1. Personal growth is like a race. We realise our best version when we reach the finish line.
2. The best version of someone is objective and measurable.

We can never reach a stage where one can say, “I’ve now become the best version of myself.”

Personal growth is a journey of continual self-discovery.

We can’t find our best version because we don’t know what we’re capable of. Our abilities are shaped by the beliefs we have about them.

Instead of chasing an elusive best version of ourselves, we can find newer versions of ourselves through lifelong learning, unlearning, and relearning.