My Ideal Self

                When I think about my ideal self I think about a person who has the perfect life.  There are many things in my life that I would like to have but I know that I will never have it unless I try my hardest to have a successful future.  I sometimes think that I am too hard on myself and I know that my life is anything but perfect.  I would love to live in a big house, drive a nice car, and make a lot of money, but I know that with my career choice that is probably not going to be the case.  I really am fine with that though.  The things that I need in life should not be materialistic anyways.  I just need my friends and family in order for me to be my best ideal self.  They help me get through every day and material things don’t even matter because they can just disappear in an instant.  In “Self-Reliance”, Emerson says:

“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.” (HB 1749)

                I think that what Emerson is saying is that someone should live their life for themselves and not for someone else.  The decisions that one makes should be because they want to make that decision, not because someone has asked them to do it.  In the last sentence it seems to me like he is saying that your life should not be stressful, but it should be real and well balanced.  Someone should not strive to be perfect and live a glamorous life and feel stressed and unbalanced. 

                There are very few people who really know the ideal me.  It takes me a while to gain trust with someone, but when I do they know the whole me and not the person that I appear to be on the outside.  I guess I just want to have a successful life where I don’t have to stress about bills or work.  I am not saying that I won’t have to stress about those things at some point in my life, but I don’t want those worries to consume my life.  I have seen my parents go through some rough times with their jobs and I just hope that if I plan correctly, I enjoy going to work every day instead of dreading it.

“Ordinarily every body in society reminds us of somewhat else or of some other person.” (HB 1752)

                This quote makes me think of how we try to please other people that we are associated with.  If we are reminded of someone else by the way we act ourselves, then sometimes you will find yourself acting like that other person.  Instead of living for your ideal self, you are living for what someone else thinks about you.  We are all people pleasers and that is why we are so hard on ourselves to be the best that we can be.  I know that I find myself trying to please other people on a day to day basis, but now I have come to realize that if they do not appreciate me for the way that I am, then why do I need them in my life?  I am trying to focus on being my best ideal self and I don’t need people in my life who are going to keep me from doing that.    

                I honestly don’t even know what makes me my best ideal self.  I think I am still learning what this phrase even means to me.  Another good quote that I found goes as follows:

“It is easy to see that a greater self-reliance must work a revolution in all the offices and relations of men; in their religion; in their education; in their pursuits; their modes of living; their association; in their property; in their speculative views.” (HB 1758)

                This quote to me is saying that all of those factors in life are what helps us become our ideal self.  The way that we live our lives and the people that we associate with helps us determine who we are as a person.  I know that the people that I hang around have helped me become the person that I am today.  Your elders, teachers, family, and friends all impact the person that you are.  The way that you are brought up also has a lot to do with the way that you live your life.  I am very blessed to have been raised as well as I have.  I guess to sum it all up; my ideal self is still being discovered.  There are many things that I still want out of life and I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.