By Clive Mutame Siachiyako
“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely
places and prayed.” Withdrawing from others to re-look at things is pertinent
in life. In as much as corporate sharing is beneficial, taking a break and do a
deep reflection about life give birth to self renewal.
There
are times when life throws us off balance. The right frame of mind is
distorted. There is too much emotionally charged decisions and action. Such
decisions and actions often lead to regrets. It is thus pertinent to stand
aside and do a self-assessment to develop a new view of life.
There
are so many things that can make us take a self introspection. It could be
failure in business, at school, poor work performance, marital or relationship
fights or financial mismanagement. Whatever the cause, there’s a time we need
to step back and re-examine ourselves...asking ourselves honest, sincere and
helpful questions.
What
are the exact reasons for self-introspection? Firstly, it’s key for self
awareness. Who I am? What do I stand for in life? Why do I do what I do? What
can I do to become better in managing money or improve my relationship or
school or work performance? It places you where you try to identify your
weaknesses and seek ways out of them. Undertaking such a task may require
soberness and time for self.
Understanding
the self can’t be done under the influence of any substance. It has to be done
with a sober mind and sincerity about yourself. Don’t let your short comings
drain you; convert them into positives useful in improving things in your life.
Change starts with the self...there’s no better change agent than yourself.
Shake yourself up and be who you want to be in life.
Secondly,
self-introspection can build your self confidence. You are able to identify
your drawbacks and strength. If you badly spend money on non-essential things;
you can turn that into investing it into things that matter most. My friend
Prudence once challenged me “you have a laptop you have used for less than two
years and you want to buy a Macbook for about a thousand dollars....are you
sure there’s nothing more important you can use that money for and buy one when
it really matters?” I tried to defend my idea of buying it, but when I was
alone; I saw a lot of sense in what she said. I invested my money into
something viable compared to the Macbook. There's nothing wrong with spoiling
yourself, but not too early...if there’s something more relevant than that
item; defer self spoiling.
Self-introspection
helps you focus on the big picture. It enables you evaluate things of prestige
and things that matter. You are able to seek yourself in terms of what matters
most now and what can be sacrificed. It can be buying a new mobile phone versus
paying examination fees. I have seen students who buy a very expensive cellular
phone a week before the deadline for examination fees and later fail to sit for
their examination because they blew the fees. Some booze school fees simply
because the gig of the week was too great to miss. In such moments, you need a
self-assessment...a gig versus school fees...and more gigs to come after school
and more financially stable? Life decisions require apt thinking.
Thirdly,
self-introspection sets you free from worrying about things that are out of
your control. Sometimes we stress over things that are beyond us. Separating
what is within our means and what is beyond us is essential in identifying our
network members to help us get things moving. It could be a friend, your
workmate or the beyond humanity it could be God. When you know who to get help
from, it becomes lighter and thus you can invest your energy in things that are
within your means. It saves you the headaches.
When
you know what’s within your control, it clears off some fears. The fear of the
unknown disillusions reasoning. It limits our ability to face challenges head
on and come out successful. With fear put on the minimal level, we can do our
best in getting things straight. Knowing our fears is health in life, it gives
us advantages in identifying reasons for the fear, and use them to motivate us
to aim high to avert the dreadful outcome. Whether the source of our fear is
rejection, failure or entirely something else, introspection allows you to
admit your fears to yourself and eventually learn the best way to handle them.
Self-introspection
further allows us make conscience decisions. We won’t use emotions or
disillusionment in deciding what to do; we would instead think through things
before stepping into action. Without self-introspection, chances of us
blundering are sometimes higher. Introspection helps you make decisions based
on fully understanding what is right or wrong for you...making choices based on
what you truly believe, without letting others’ input sway you. While it’s okay
to ask for others’ advice and feedback, ultimately, trust your gut — it won’t
fail you.
Thus,
value stepping out and doing a self assessment. Use that moment to redefine
your goals, your values, your principles and anything that requires immediate
change. With tough and sincere friends you are helped in realising life
changing principles. At times there’s a risk of over cloud our mind to an
extent that making right decisions becomes blurred. We become psychopaths.
Going
through life the same way inevitably block the chance of changing things for
the better. When we become more self-aware, we are capable of having a better
understanding of what we truly want in life. Naturally, this involves making
changes. Such changes sometimes result from deep introspection.
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