Making Room for Ourself

Recently, there were lots of times when I felt disappointed with myself, feeling a range of what one would deem as “negative” emotions with what happened, however, I found out that the key to overcoming those emotions is to simply make room for it in your heart. 

Our lives are made of so many different components, just like different paints on a palette—there are sad times, happy times, cringe times, embarrassing times, nervous times, and loads more. Those are all what makes us, and our identity. If we purposely try to avoid one aspect of ourselves, we are neglecting the growth and emotional strength that we will gain from that moment with that emotion. For example, me stuttering as the MC of the school assembly makes me feel cringe and awkward. If I try to avoid that, first, the emotion would come to me even more, but second, I am neglecting the growth that I would have with this emotion. Plus, just because I stuttered at one assembly, that doesn’t mean I would keep doing this in the future, and plus, I have to accept that cringey self, that ashamed self, and that embarrassed self. It makes up who I am, and we should embrace every stage of our life.

We also have to make room for our two identities—our dream self and our realistic present self. We often expect ourselves to achieve and simply be our ideal self and be the person who always will be the perfect student, parent, worker, boss, etc. However, we might not be there yet. There is always something that we are not satisfied with by ourselves. For example, my speech fluency is something I am not satisfied with, but I have to accept that reality as this is me, in order to move forward with a positive mindset. Thus, please stop feeling stressed and pressured—your heart is big enough for all emotions to fit in there for a whole, complete self.