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I want to be liked.
I would say that most people feel that way.
We want to know that what we do matters — that we are making a difference.
But I get the sense that this we are craving for nourishment and validation in ways that we will never attain it.
The public sentiment in this country is that we are leading the way on all fronts — that our economy is doing well, that we are leaders in technological innovation, and that others look to the example we set.
I think that is wrong.
I think that once you start to create a hero narrative, you immediately begin to miss the mark.
We have created a pixelated fantasy.
Life, these days, is being played out on the screen, all while we say that we are better than that, that we know how to rise above the addiction.
It’s just like the person who says he is above the narrative; once you say you are above it, you have all but succumbed to the sucking undertow.
I don’t want us to talk about how we are better. I want us to be better.
I want us to speak more with our actions — and less with our words.
The world needs more honesty and more transparency — but most of all, it needs more humility.
When did humility get conflated with weakness?
When did we acquiesce to the puppeteers?
We don’t need to look to brazen leaders to set the tone. We have the power within us to choose how we should think, and act, and believe.
When did we turn to the digital void to find our own voice?
Because the jarring reality is this: you can’t find your voice in a roiling sea of digital noise.
What the world needs now is introspection.
Taking time to contemplate the potential consequences of one’s behavior is not weakness, nor is it timidity.
It’s freedom.
It’s tuning in to who you are and what you stand for. It’s considering the context and making the best choice with the information that’s available.
That’s leadership. That’s creating a vision that others can get behind.
Our mental health has been attacked by the constant chaos manufactured by our supposed role models, who have been aided in their efforts, in large part, by the mass media.
It’s time to turn inward.
It’s time to live presently and with full attention.
How can we be our best if we don’t first do the important work to figure out who we truly are?
The answers aren’t out there in the latest fad or the loudest demagogue; they are inside us.
Rather than running to someone who can save us and tell us that we are worthy of love, let’s run back in the opposite direction — to the true selves we left behind.
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This post was originally published on Medium.com and is republished with the author’s permission.
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