Maybe you aren't Special... - Some thoughts on the Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***

It takes most people a lifetime to realize that the best thing they can do for themselves is to not take what people say quite so seriously. Because at the end of it we are all trying our best to understand, to show that we really do not know what we are doing.

It may be old advice but being able to realize that only you can live your life. And the best way to do it is by first coming to terms with your own insignificance. Be it in your community, your workplace or even your family. At the very least, that should rattle some feathers, I mean why would you want to be insignificant? Aren't we always taught that we matter? The whole aim of us going to school is so that we make something of ourselves, right? WE wake and commute to our daily faring's just to be able to give ourselves a sense of importance.

Whole cultures are built on social standings, organizations thrive on different leadership structures, with each element of that structure feeling more important than the person below them. Yet this doesn't really solve any of our issues. Or allow us to become who we are meant to be. Well...according to Mark Manson that is.

In his very strongly titled Book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***, he chronicles how an unjustified sense of self-importance forces you to take lesser risks and thrive on social acceptance. At the root, the idea is if you are okay with accepting your own lack of significance, you then become more amenable to failure. Not in the sense that everything you do will be a failure but more so you are open to new experiences and taking on newer challenges that a significant self would have deemed too costly if you failed.

I personally believe this to be true. In my education career, the one thing that I learnt outside of the classroom was that failure is a steppingstone. It is not the end of the world, nor is it the end of one's social stature. With each point of failing, I realized that I had learnt more about either myself or the problem or issue I was trying to solve.

Failure is meant to be a part of life. It is what encourages people to try out alternative ways of solving problems or performing a task. If you look at it as an end point, you miss the chance of learning what the journey itself had in store. And no, I'm not going to quote or narrate stories of billionaires who have had multiple failed attempts before they found the right formula, your favorite Facebook motivation pages are filled with those.

To wrap it all up, try something new today. try that one thing that you feel if you failed at, you would be crucified at the crossroads of society and who knows, choosing to be less significant may be the one significant thing you have done all year🤷🏿‍♂.️