THINGS YOU LEARN (from May, 2023)
The good use of your talents requires good thinking, a liberation from the box called normalcy once promoted as acceptable. In that box, you were taught to think in a certain way, to behave in a certain way, and to only use your talents in a certain way, if at all. And those shackles of indoctrination ultimately transform the box called normalcy into a prison of limitations - a prison, strangely enough, your own mind won’t let you escape without a fight.
It takes time for anything to change, and that’s especially true for a mindset transfixed on society’s version of normalcy. But indoctrination typically runs counter to your creativity. Freeing yourself from such thinking puts you in charge to finally push aside the noise and useless notions rooted in comparison, insecurity, negativity, and fear.
That freer and more open mind becomes a gateway through which your creativity can flourish, and reading helps with that. For example, to improve your writing, you should read ambitiously; and to improve your thinking and spur your creativity, you should write more regularly. Doing this - learning anew, creating frequently, and thinking critically - will become a cycle of fulfillment.
Having control and unleashing your talents, in some cases, means willfully breaking with conformity and rewiring your mindset to meet your needs and expectations - not the needs or expectations of the world. And don’t worry; the world will adapt to whatever choices you make. You just have to think of yourself, this time, for yourself - and you will probably find that opportunity has been waiting on you. Indeed, as Paulo Coelho so eloquently put it: If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.
