To those who have not read Self-Reliance, it is an extremely long essay that emphasizes the importance of individuality and trusting oneself. I first read this essay my junior year of high school during a difficult point in my life. It was a time in which I was accustomed to following a crowd, feeling frightened to speak up out of fear of judgment, and a point where I was trying to piece together my future. I have shared a few quotes that stood out to me and I will explain the personal meaning that I have found in them and how they have affected me.
"“Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood,
and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and
Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great
is to be misunderstood.”
-This quote opened my eyes and helped me come to the realization that all of those who have impacted us historically and who have made long-lasting impressions have at some point been misinterpreted or experienced a deep conflict. I realized that avoiding anything that risks disappointing others will never help me make enormous impacts that I have always hoped to make. Grasping the understanding that every bold human being will have people who will dislike them or continually misinterpret their beliefs, helped me gain a bit more confidence. This spoke to me and made me come to the conclusion that I do not mind having people who do not see everything as I do. This line made me an individual who is no longer afraid to speak up.
“Envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide.”
-This particular quote encouraged and inspired me to love my individuality and to appreciate others' as well. It opened my eyes to the fact that we are all fortunate enough to have the ability to express ourselves in countless ways and the fact that everyone adds something to this world. This quote also made me realize how many people in this world are striving to be like someone else which prevents them from finding true happiness. When you are trying to be someone else, it is destroying yourself as a person. Once I stopped attempting to imitate others in order to gain acceptance, I become a much more happier and content person.
“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.”
-This quote made me reflect on how much I would blame the smallest situations in everyday life for my unhappiness. I came to the conclusion that satisfaction is something that only an individual can bring to themselves. I stopped searching for contentment in superficial places or from others, and learned to depend on myself to prevent others from dictating my emotional well-being.
I highly recommend that everyone read this essay at some point. Even if it does not have as much of an impact on others, it will at the very least make you stop and think. Please let me know if you have read this essay or plan on it. I'd love to see how it affected others.
Here is a link to the essay: http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm
I absolutely adore self-reliance. I also read it in my Junior year of high school. It's a tough year. I remember feeling incredibly out of place and out of rhythm with the world, and sometimes I still do, but then I read this quote:
ReplyDelete“My life is not an apology, but a life. It is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that it should be glittering and unsteady."
And I decided that I needed to stop getting up every day and performing and start living