Member-only story
LIFE
Know Yourself
The most important thing to know
My fingers had blood-stained medical tapes from Cryotherapy. New warts emerged on my hands like mushrooms in a damp room. In college one morning, I extended my hand to a classmate for a handshake who looked at my fingers with disdain and touched a tapeless part with his index finger. I smiled.
Later that week, I went to his apartment even though he avoided me for the entire week like pedestrians avoid garbage. He sent me home by bus as he and another classmate enjoyed weed with jokes and life talks.
I was devastated during the journey home. I first blamed life for being cruel and cried. After that, it dawned that warts, classmates, or life hadn’t embarrassed me. I had.
While I noticed something was wrong with me, I was scared that I had no idea what that was. I knew I had to do something about myself soon, but I had no clue what that would be. That’s when I first sensed that I needed to understand myself before learning or doing anything else.
If you lack self-knowledge, you will have no sense of your strengths and weaknesses. Without that sense, you won’t know what you are about. You won’t be able to appreciate and respect yourself. This leads to low self-esteem.
