What Are You Trying To Prove?

Do you spend your time and effort in a futile attempt to live up to someone else's standards? What are you trying to prove? And why?

Fulfillment comes not from impressing others, but from being, as completely and magnificently as you can, the person you are.

Consider how much of your anxiety, worry and frustration come from your striving to live up to the expectations of others -- to say the "right" things, drive the "right" kind of car, wear the "right" clothes. Of course we must be respectful and accepting of the people around us but we must also be careful NOT to become enslaved by their arbitrary definition of what has value and what doesn't.

Break free from the need to be accepted. The value of your life comes not from what others think of you. It comes from the degree to which you become the person you've always known you were meant to be. The admiration of others cannot be truly gained by chasing it. Paradoxically, the more you become your own person, the more you'll be admired by others.

Set your own standards, and set them high. Pursue excellence with sincerity. Forget about trying to prove anything. Just go ahead and be the best you can be.

- Ralph Marston