As we grow the way we react to experiences (plus maybe genes, I don’t know) helps define our personalities. This means that our reactions are part of the personality equation. If we have a say over our reactions, then we have a say over our personalities, right? I’ve always found it extremely limiting when someone says “Oh, I’m like that, that’s just how I’ve always been”, because they’re taking away their power to change.

I feel that as I’ve grown I’ve realized how much power I have to better myself and change whatever behavior I have that I don’t like. (As a side note: while it is important to have good traits, I don’t think we should be placing our value in how we are, we shouldn’t wait until we’re better or until we get rid of that annoying habit to like ourselves. I’ll expand more on this in another story probably… maybe).

Another factor that, I’ve found, can get in the way of me bettering myself is that I feel I’m supposed to act a certain way, as if the people around me expect me to behave in a specific manner. I think there is some truth to that, I think we all play certain roles in the social groups we are a part of. This can be why some people will want to move away from the place they grew in, to another country. It can be “a fresh start” where you can act different than usual because nobody really knows you.

Still, I feel that much of this in our minds. We could be blowing things out of proportion with how we think people expect us to act. And to be honest, even if all of it was true and people were expecting us to fit into a mold in order to be part of a specific social group, then we should say buh-bye to them. Us wanting to better ourselves takes precedence over belonging to any particular group. There are 7.5 billion people on Earth, finding social groups we like should be a piece of cake.

I know bettering ourselves can be very difficult, but I think it is still possible. If we don’t like something about how we are, we have the power to change it.

Anyway, those were my thoughts on the power of bettering ourselves, what about yours?

-Marcos

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