THE FEAR OF BEING GREATER THAN YOUR DREAMS

Our potential is the basic unit of our own happiness. That is why there is no definition of happiness, but only proxy approaches. Nobody can define happiness in a unique way! Whatever it means to you, might be different for me. Thus, we can approach happiness as the
realization of our potential. Some researchers think of happiness as well-being, or life satisfaction. However, sometimes realizing our potential is painful and requires a lot of sacrifices, which are not feelings that we usually relate to happiness

Nobody would think that Nelson Mandela was satisfied spending 27 years in jail, or that Martin Luther King enjoyed getting beaten over and over again. Yet, they lived exemplary lives, they sacrificed a lot and their path was very painful. But their happiness didn’t rest on their personal well-being, but rather on the realization of their potential. And that potential was the struggle for the civil rights of millions.

This is how Martin Luther King Jr. defined his own happiness. “Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.”. As we can see, seeking happiness and having a meaningful and great life was a matter of realizing his potential. It was not a matter of personal success, but service to others.

How about us, when we look back at our lives 20 or 30 years from now? Do we want to be truly happy knowing that we lived meaningful lives, or frustrated because we never created the opportunities to fully develop our talents, capacities and potential?

Our happiness mustn’t lie in being rich, famous or just living in material satisfactions. If we are not able to realize our potential, it is very likely that we will live empty lives. We might live very successful lives, but they might be empty at the end of the day.

We have to free ourselves from the cruelty of fear. And the only way to do that is by acknowledging and accepting the person who we really want to become. We have to leave behind the preconceptions and assumptions that we have about the world. And we must live our life knowing that it is ours alone.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear”. Nelson Mandela.