People. Society. Humanity. What is the common correlation between the three you may ask? Our overbearing nature of dissatisfaction, and not accepting the hard, cold reality. In an ideal utopia, people face predicaments and obstacles but gallantly soar over them; pushing aside the setbacks to rise to the eventual greatness. In a world I call planet earth, people seem like aliens to this matter. We override the significance of life: to face dilemmas and to not be afraid of emotional or physical defeat. We yearn merely for ultimate success and maybe this is just how the nature of human beings were nurtured to be. We live our lives, set our goals, and do everything to our highest extent to fulfill them; and when we fail to, all hail breaks loose. While some religions abstain from certain foods as apart of their traditions, we are fasting from the trait of acceptance.
In Herman Hesse’s beautiful novel, Siddhartha, a considerably thought-provoking notion is expressed: “When someone seeks … he is able to find nothing, to take in nothing, because he always thinks only about the thing he is seeking, because he has one goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: having a goal. But finding means: being free, being open, having no goal.” In other words, when you possess such passion towards something, you don’t gain anything beneficial from doing so. You lose the sole purpose of your goal in the first place because you let it occupy and overpower your mind and self. In this way, the quote emphasizes how one should allow themselves to naturally obtain success in life. You shouldn’t feel obliged to perfection and let your dissatisfaction of being unsuccessful get the best of you. After all, YOU are the key to reaching the stars.
From a personal and universal stance, I truly can’t stress the validity of this perspective. I tend to excessively crave certain desires and would do anything to reach them. In an effectual manner, when I don’t achieve this, I feel helpless, depressed .. at rock bottom. Although this might sound rather extreme, it is the reality of my life, as a fifteen-year old girl named Jenny Nguyen. The world doesn’t know about this side of her and maybe that’s just because it wouldn’t make a difference if it did. Simply put, we’re all like this, it’s just a minuscule fraction of the societal norms today. When I really want something, I urge anything and everything just to get there. I’d like to say that I connect to Siddhartha on a pretty close level in the sense that he yearned for spiritual growth. He dedicated so many aspects just to do so and at the same time, he lost himself in it. Throughout the novel, we see Siddhartha’s continuous dissatisfaction with his lifestyle, but when he simply lets loose, he becomes settled as an enlightened ferryman. Within my life, I face similar encounters, but when I move past them, I’m also tranquil, happier, more successful, on top of the world!
Siddhartha makes acceptance of failure look so dang easy, but in such a defeated state, how can we possibly bounce back? It is important to note that, it all starts with you. That’s right. No one has control over your potential, ability, intentions, and most importantly, you. Siddhartha faced a long, strenuous journey to hurdle over his spiritual obstacles, but during it, he learned a little something along each step. So can you! Don’t let a small altercation destroy your whole world, because in reality, you only have one life and there is so much more to live for. Personally, I’ve learned to let the little things slide, always try to work harder, and realize that everything happens for a reason. As cliché as this might sound (I’m literally cringing at myself too, don’t worry), it’s the root of every occurrence in your world. Life is essentially predetermined for you, so you don’t need to force yourself to do anything or be a certain way. Don’t allow yourself to feel at an all time low over something you’ll laugh about the next day. Life is a journey, a roller coaster, a stepping stone to ultimate greatness. You’ve only been gifted with one to maximize to its fullest potential. Are you going to fight or flight?
Jen Z Dilemmas 