My Personal Values Essay Example
A life lived without values is akin to a tree left unattended to, with nothing more the rain to accompany it.” It doesn’t go without saying that values are what define a person, what shape the way they make decisions and what a person carries with them for quite possibly their entire life. There is good, and there is bad in this world, but values exist correspondingly amongst both. Values are not meant to be so complicated, they are small beliefs we hold in our mind as we go through the never-ending escapade of challenges and troubles of life. Values help to get a clearer understanding of our own life, and influence our actions like no other thing can.
The first and vital value I’ve attained over my life was that change is always possible, but takes a hefty amount of time. Only a simple-minded person would find themselves believing that they could watch a single inspirational video, read a single book, receive a single speech, and change themselves overnight from that. Although these things go a long way in garnering inspiration and hope, they are but small footnotes in the grand scheme of changing yourself for the better. When anybody wants, or needs to change their entire way of life, we must go into it knowing that it will require an unconceivable amount of time as well as overwhelming effort. When an addict wants to quit his addiction, when somebody wants to give up on a bad habit, most give up within a month or two just because they don’t see the results as fast as they expected. However, if they consistently maintained the same spirit for a long duration, it would reap unbelievably good results. That is why you must always have the thought in the back of your mind that eventually it will get better, and that can also be done through maintaining an optimistic spirit.
In a world that’s currently filled with news of murders, wars, shootings, terrorist acts, and horrible misdeeds, it’s easy not to get lost in the void among the vast majority and become a pessimist in the process. As evident from social media and news channels, negativity and pessimism are the new normal. When a bunch of adults get together, they complain about the increasing gas bills and ‘horrible’ politicians, when a group of schoolmates gather, they discuss the never-ending homework and what subjects they dislike. Most people choose to be pessimistic not because they want to, but because they see the other people around them being as such, and believe that they could fit in with society if they chose to hop on the train of haters. However, a single node of optimism can be sometimes be enough to light up the room that’s been filled with an eternal node of darkness for too long. With a lifespan as short as we have, spending it whining and moaning over the smallest of inconveniences do no one any good. Adopting an optimistic mindset and keeping an open mind over all things does wonders for the mental health and soul. You’re able to get your work done much faster, and the people around you benefit from the kindness that you spread whether you believe it or not. It’s not as if the thing that’s bothering you right now will be affecting you in the next five years, or even the next day, other than wasting your time right now, so why oh why we do need to keep being pessimistic?
The grandeur point of all, about the secret to success. So many people procrastinate on their task, put aside their passionate works of art, just in the hopes of starting it when they find the secret to success. But the secret, the real true secret, is that there is no such thing as a secret pathway that opens all the gates to heaven. The only secret to success is no other than hard work. Over the years I observed many people around me flourish to great heights and achieve a rate of success I would usually deem impossible, but I realized that I wasn’t an innate talent lying within them or supernatural magic, but the fruits of their labor. When you put in the work yourself and give it all that you have, it will never fail in its mission to deliver an amazing outcome. Regardless of what grade you get or what position you have, at the end of the day, we will come out knowing that we gave it our all, and come out better next time.
At the end of the day, the values which are held so dearly in life, whether it be about changing yourself, keeping an optimistic attitude, or putting in the effort, can all be categorized under one single thing which is decision making. Although not everything, 90 percent of everything in life in our hands only, and it is up to us to ensure that it doesn’t slip through our fingers. Whatever decision we choose to take, regardless of how small or how big we think of it, impacts us because the smallest of decisions can make the biggest of changes in the long run. Choosing to browse Instagram for 20 minutes, sleeping in the morning for an extra 10 minutes, or choosing to exercise for 15 minutes, it is our choice. What values we want to have, what principles we deem so essential, that too lies in our own hands. Thus, consciously making right decisions and having right values, no matter how minor or meaningless it might seem, will only serve to bring you wonderful results one fine day.
