While brushing my teeth tonight I was thinking about all the people that have made such an impact on my life and have no idea.. because really, who goes up to a person and says, "Hey, you've changed my life and this is how.." So this got me to thinking about the impact that we leave on other people and how absolutely clueless we are about it.. it makes me wonder who I have actually made a real impact on and how I've done it..
It kind of makes you wish you could see yourself from an outside perspective because, lets face it, our own perceptions of ourselves are very different than those through the eyes of another.. and that perception of you changes from person to person. So which one is "right"? Can we ever truly know ourselves? Or is it one of those "prove beyond reasonable doubt things"?
..always searching for who we are.. redefining who we are. Who we are is constantly changing. And that's not a bad thing by any means. So when can we ever actually define it.. because not everything changes.. ok, now I'm just rambling and I'm cutting my tired mind off.
In summary, who are you? and who are you to other people?
I am everything to everybody just as everybody else is everything to me. What would we be were it not for the other people in our lives? Especially our parents?
ReplyDeleteI have a question for you, I feel like you'd be inclined to answer it on here, but if you don't I won't take it (anonymously) personal.
Why do you do what you do?
Such a simple question.. but so hard to answer haha. I can't even get myself to come up with a general answer to this. I find myself wanting to ask you to be more specific - do you mean me personally or people in general? And why do I do what? But I'm assuming you mean me personally and what I do in general.... yup, still having trouble finding an answer. Some things I do because I have to, some things because they make me happy or I hope that in the future it'll make me happy or more comfortable or what have you, I would have to say I can think of things I do because I feel like I'm "supposed" to.. but when I really look at it, it seems like most of what I do is for making myself happy at a later time in life. I definitely have yet to find that balance of preparing for the future as well as enjoying myself now, but I feel like I'm straying from where you wanted this to go.. I think that we, as people, are very impressionable and it's those defining moments based on experiences with people that can be so self defining. One of the people I was thinking about when I was brushing my teeth that particular night was an art history professor at the school I just transferred from. She's absolutely brilliant (in more ways than just teaching about art history and all that includes.) She's opened up this passion within in me about things that I never had a clue that I would even care about at all and she's instilled this desire in me to know more about what interests me. I feel so much more knowledgeable about the world, the past, the present, people, myself, etc. all because of her. It may not sound like a huge deal, but for an almost 22 year old who's been struggling with the whole "who am I and what do I want" thing, it's been profound. I have never previously felt so intellectually awake and it's really changed the direction that my life is going in. People definitely have this influence over us, good or bad, and when you think about it, it really changes who you are. And what you do :P I think we also don't really notice the impact that people have on our lives till they're not there anymore either. I'm sorry if this is really confusing to read, but I wanted to get back to you as soon as I saw your comment. And feel free to ask me to clarify anything!
ReplyDeleteThat's a very inspiring answer, and exactly what I was looking for! I do have one question though, what were those new passions that your previous teacher instilled within you? I ask because I agree with you and its amazing to see how one person can be changed so much by another person, we're all so interconnected and what we do seems so reliant on what other people tell and do to us, yet sometimes I think we take that for granted.
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