“I’ve been waiting for you to stop trying to be extraordinary, to stop trying to be ‘them’, all so I can love you as you are.”
I thought about the purpose of life while reading this post at school. I believe the answer to this question is very subjective and is ultimately determined by how we spend the time we have on this planet. Most of the time we spend on this life or the time we are given, is directed towards trying to understand ourselves, and trying to come up with answers to the question of "what is the purpose of my life?" while we have the freedom to answer this question, and it guides us to search for different possibilities, we have to try to find ourselves like we see other people doing in front of us. This, trying to fit into other people’s steps, and trying to repeat their careers, and their feelings, and their experiences, often leaves us behind, and we are forced to live in a world of “almost” and “what if?” and this ultimately has us disconnected with ourselves and the desires we carry in our hearts.
The quickly growing use of social media has made this insecurity much worse, and it even makes it easier to perpetuate that way of thinking. Each time you look at the curated, idealized and highly edited images of strangers and their so-called “perfect lives,” they direct you to ignore the boring, and unexciting aspects of reality, and you compare yourself to them. You watch yourself lose your sense of identity, as well as your standards. When you put only “good” things, without any authenticity, you showcase the achievements that you already diminished. You present only the “impressive” things and deprive yourself of authenticity. Now you’re at a fork in the road: One path is about self actualization and engagement in the present moment, the other is about never ending emotional turmoil.
It is an impossible task to make everything great, and the answer starts with knowing your identity, individual values, and personal nature. However, it isn't about losing the ambition to become greater. There is a big difference between nothing and everything. You have to fully commit and wait to see a return on your investment. This is much better than starting a bunch of projects to just see a bunch of unfinished work. Often, your determination can steer you to bad places and make you abandon things quickly. It isn't about collecting identities, accolades, or achievements; it's about becoming, and that takes courage to wait. You have to have the patience to become one thing to step out of the crowd, and not lose yourself trying to be everything to everyone.

— Ode to a Poet, The Hunger to Be Everything (Substack)
full article → https://open.substack.com/pub/odetoapoet/p/the-hunger-to-be-everything