Everyone learns differently. Yet we teach and test everyone exactly the same as if they were exactly the same. Life is the most difficult exam. Most people fail because they try to copy others not realizing that everyone has a different question paper.
Universities Make Us What?
All it takes is a simple google search: University makes me “unhappy”, “anxious”, “feel like a failure” and many more. It is no surprise that depression is on the rise as mental health hits the skies, and I am hoping that’s the limit, probably for the first time. And don’t get twisted, we want to change the system not just be critics. But the truth is we spent a lot of time in theoretical and tactical, not enough time on the creative and practical. Today, at college, we spend a lot of time in bars and then learn how to code. It’s ironic! we end up a bar code. Is a bar code memorable? No, it’s just a series of digits, we end up statistics, wasted potential like unrecorded lyrics.
Human As A Product To Be Shipped!
Every day we turn up to the conveyor belt, we are on the assembly line. We have become the product of our environment then get shipped off. Life is the most difficult exam. The history we learn at school does not help us define our future. Most of us know how to add and subtract and not know how to multiply our investments. We know how to do multiple choice, but we struggle to make the decision, We know how to analyze the poet’s voice, but we can not express ourselves with precision. We learned about the human body but we can not find ourself, We learned about the brain but not about mental health.
The One Side Of Life.
Geography taught us where the things were, but not where countries wanted to go. We learned about the modes of transport, but not why travel makes us grow, We learned about different languages, but not about old cultures, We learned about only one perspective, and not opposing versions, We learned about how to draw art, but not to appreciate art. We were always pushed to get to the end but never knew how to start, We were always told to get over stuff in order how to work through, We learned about the cells in the plants but not about the sources of our food. The process of measuring a distance is known to us but not the strategy to tackle the journey within. We were told that X was the only place there was something missing and not to find the missing thing in ours.
Most Difficult Exams!
The real test we will face is rejection, dealing with failure, having to start from scratch and things not going our way. But we have never been taught perseverance, determination or persistence for even one day. The real challenge we will face our being empathetic, understanding people’s challenges and the ability to press pause. Because at school we get the lesson first and the test after, but in life, you get the test first and the lesson after.
Real Education.
We need character but we focus on caliber. Values are not being taught but we are forced to focus on algebra. What if we studied more about Pythagoras and not just his theorem? What if we learned about Einstein and not just his work? We should learn about empathy, not just economics. Compassion is more important to learn than just the compass? What if we learned about emotional intelligence as well as the spelling quiz. The attitude should be given more importance than aptitude. What if we did not just learn how to read, but how to apply it?
Prepare Yourself For Life As An Exam.
Life is disguised as an exam, but it’s more like a practice test. When you make mistakes, learn from them, and any missed take can be taken again. You can change the script at any time, make a costume change and then get back on to that stage. Do not be limited by society. Your path is unique, do not trade it for less. Life is the most difficult exam because most people are looking at someone else’s desk.
Bryan Dyson gives a speech on September 6th, 1991 at Gregoria Tech University. He said: Imagine life is a game of juggling five balls in the air. We can name them work, family, health, friends, and spirit. And you are keeping all of them in the air, you will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls: family, health, friends, and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same again. You must understand that and strive for balance in life and what we need to recognize is that there is no balance if we don’t start with ourselves.
Realize The Real Problem Of Life.
Burn out is not about giving too much of yourself, it’s about trying to give what you don’t have. Burn out is when we listen to others but not our own body. We talk to others but not our own mind, We make time for others but don’t make time for ourselves, we go out when we want to stay in, We stay up late when we want to go to bed early. You don’t have to set yourself on fire to keep others warm. No one would not worry so much about what others think of yourselves if we realize how seldom they do.
No one is thinking about you as much as you think they are!
Eleanor Roosevelt
I can’t tell you the key to success but the key to failure is trying to please everyone. We lose ourselves trying to please everyone else than actually lose everyone else trying to find ourselves.
Conclusion.
Jeff Foster said it best ” The word depressed can be spoken as deep-rest” We can choose to view depression not as mental illness, but as a state of deep rest. The spiritual exhaustion that we enter into when we are de-pressed. Pressed down by the weight of our false self. To master the mind-made story of me. We long to stop pretending and express our raw truth to give voice to our secret loneliness, our shame, our broken hearts, boredoms, and brilliant rage. There is no shame in our exhaustion. We all are exhausted.
Slow down today, all yourself to rest deeply. And weep, and breath, and begin again. It contains the seed of new life. The soul usually knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the ego. We can hear the songs through our bodies if we stop them from downing it out. We can hear the song through our pain if we silence the mind. Burn out is when you are running and you just need to walk, it’s when you are chasing and you just need to fall, it’s when you are riving and you truly need to drop. And it’s when you are pushing and you need to pause. Don’t judge yourself. Every thought can be a battle and every breath can be a wall but you don’t have to do anyone more in this life of rushed competition!
