Tag: Stories

Self-worth is a value that is often lacking among our more important attributes.  It can lead to depression, low self-esteem and even missing out on opportunities because we’re just not confident enough to engage in worthwhile challenges.

These effects, of course, have further problems and add to even more negative points in our lives.  But it is important to know that we are not alone when we begin to doubt ourselves.

No matter what you tell yourself, no matter what your closest friends tell you and no matter what the stranger sitting across from you says, we all feel self-doubt from time to time.  How much and how often generally depend on a lot of environmental factors that may not even have anything to do with us or our level of accomplishment.

In the farthest reaches of this world, this issue is prevalent.  And even then, there is also the emotional opposite of this particular level of self-consciousness: over-confidence.

In either of these extremes, there is one characteristic that links them both and which is undeniable — once we know what we’re looking at.

What you’re worth becomes much clearer once you’ve found out where your limits are.  Traveling, by way of expanding our horizons, gives us a direct line into that better, more expanded version of ourselves.  And once we look back over that amazing mountain that we’ve just climbed, or trace our fingers over the map delineating the long trek we just made, our level of self-worth seems just as large and impressive as the feat itself.

Therefore it is not only a natural effect that travelers are, themselves, better people than what they left at home, but that they also begin to see that they have a much greater sense of what they can achieve for themselves.  Seeking the approval of others, then, becomes about as useful as the pair of hiking boots that they destroyed after 5,000 miles of hikes through distant lands and over many mountains.

And, metaphorically speaking, the approval of others served its purpose for us when we were in these previous shoes.  Shedding them and donning our new shoes, however, is what is necessary and ultimately inevitable, the “further” we go in our lives.

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Like the image from this article?  Visit the photo album HERE.

Insights from the Pavement is a new style of blog that I am trying out.  These will be posted a couple times per week for the next few months.  And I am interested in what my readers and passersby think of them.  So be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

Along this journey of life, we encounter people who seem to require that we meet their standard or that they perhaps don’t have time for us.  But you don’t have to travel far to meet these types of people.  In fact, I’d bet that we can think of two or three people like this right off the top of our heads.

We could spend our entire lives wondering why we just aren’t good enough for these individuals.  Or we could realize that we, as independent people, are likely not the only ones that don’t quite cut the mustard for them.  And in these cases, it is very easy to understand how their dissatisfaction with us is not limited to those other individuals in this person’s circle.  Indeed, these types of people are also likely very dissatisfied with themselves.

When looking at this problem with this in mind, it’s almost immediate that we conjure up compassion for them.  Knowing that they are stuck in a cycle of negativity and that they are only hurting themselves in their negative plight, is part of understanding that it is up to us to ensure that we take responsibility for our own satisfaction and happiness in this life.  And the moment that we realize that someone else seems to require us to provide them with the same satisfaction and happiness, we get a glimpse of their lack of ability to provide that for themselves.

From many years on the road, lessons like these seem commonplace.  Meeting people of various cultures, nationalities, races, beliefs: this is a universal characteristic of people the world over.  Everyone is chasing after happiness.  Even those who seem never to have it in their lives.

While it may seem unorthodox, by complaining and even inviting drama into one’s life, people who act in this way do find some satisfaction from, at the very minimum the relief that they get feeling like their problems are greater than someone else’s if they can manifest the cycle of negativity that impulsively creates that reality for others.  By casting out this attitude to others that their problems are less profound than theirs, or by painting the picture that even the slightest problem is so terrible that they just can’t stand it, they are underpinning the notion that they are ultimately “above” or “better than” these items.  Therefore, they claim the right to cast their judgment over the entirety of whatever issue is at hand.

Understanding that people have these shortcomings on the global level will also help us to understand on the local level just what it is that drives the pattern of negativity in the lives of those who thrive on it and set it in motion by spreading gossip to others about it.

No matter where you go, this will always be a part of life.  But if you know what it looks like (or worse; if you are in this cycle yourself), you can easily avoid it and start to look at things more positively.

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Like the image from this post?  Check out the album from Alaska HERE.

Insights from the Pavement is a new style of blog that I am trying out.  These will be posted a couple times per week for the next few months.  And I am interested in what my readers and passersby think of them.  So be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments section.