Reflection: Week 3

Who is the best me and what is my ideal self? That is a difficult question to answer. Even if we have an answer, do we really know? My knowledge of my ideal self comes from my spiritual upbringing. I know that I am a child of God, I have infinite worth and limitless potential. Temporally, however, I didn’t know who I was for most of my life. I had lost faith in my ability to blossom and flourish within my limitless potential. I am a recovering alcoholic and I was blinded by my addiction. I couldn’t see through the whiskey and I couldn’t swim through the rum. I was drowning and I knew I had to get out. Sobriety is precious and I have been able to start to know and become my ideal self.
Emerson lent great assistance in helping to form my essay. I learned we will not know until we try. “The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried” (Emerson). I learned a genuine life that is lived is better than one that is a spectacle. “My life 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” (Emerson). I learned it is important to live after my own opinion and stay true to myself when I am out in the world. “It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude” (Emerson). I learned that virtue comes from within. It is not shown in empty actions. “We pass for what we are. Character teaches above our wills. Men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions, and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath every moment” (Emerson). I learned that I should compare myself to no one and accept me for who I am. “These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence” (Emerson).
I learned from reading the essays of my classmates that our life experiences make us who we are. It is up to each individual to use those experiences to become better and stronger. When we are younger and haven’t truly lived it is hard to know who we are even if we know who we want to become. The most important thing I learned is how to read, understand and retain information better while doing my weekly readings. I read the writing prompt first. Then while I’m reading I look for information and quotes to use for my essay. So while I am reading I am concentrating more on the content to find what I like and want to use instead of reading and skimming blindly. It helps me stay focused on the material.