A book inspired me to scribble down the following thoughts about the multiple facets of one’s personality. This is to say that a person’s personality cannot just fall into water tight compartments like “Type A” or “Type B” and “Black” or “White”. An individual’s personality is essentially the overlapping of multiple personality traits. The most curious thing here is that, each personality inside the individual is capable of highly developed practices and contributes significantly in carrying out a specific role. This is to say that one aspect of the personality could be a wonderful artist who keeps calm and balance from within, while another trait of the same personality is being a skilled marital arts expert with the dexterity to protect the physical form of the individual. The very same individual could be also someone who is adroit at handy things like unlocking a door with a hairpin or tying different types of knots. Yes I know I am talking about an invincible genius like James Bond or the perfect hero, right off the pages of some work of fiction. But ultimately all these thoughts lead me to ponder upon these questions- ” how many talents can a person really have?”, ” to whom or what can we attribute all these talents to?”, ” how do we groom, balance and enhance these talents?” and ” is it indeed possible to master all these talents or can we only cultivate a few?”. To reiterate, a person can possess many hidden talents which he has never thought of.
There are common errands that we are not used to doing by ourselves because hired services are easily available at our finger tips or they are considered too “technical”. For example, fixing the internet connection or setting up the gas connection. Often, we may contact these services and end up waiting for them to turn up for weeks on end. That’s when we decide to take things in our own hand, to get matters done faster. Thus we learn, acquire new skills. That is when we realize that we have the ability to do something which we never thought we were capable of.
In my country, it is common to find used furniture lying around on the streets because people just leave it near their houses if they don’t need it anymore. If you are someone with limited means, then this is not a bad idea. In fact I would say that it is a great idea! Here you get an opportunity to open up your creativity: to paint, to decorate and therefore create something new and unique. I remember that as a child I loved to draw and paint in my own amateur way. But over time, I lost that creative spark in me. Of late however, I have somehow managed to rekindle my love for drawing.
To cite another example, all through my life I have never thought of having a tool kit, but recently to my own disbelief, I bought one. Now I don’t need anyone’s help to hang pictures up on the wall or to hammer something. Initially the whole process might seem painstaking, but after awhile it will seem like no big deal. Even if you can’t come up with a solution to your problem all by yourself, you can trust the internet to help you with ideas and guidance. But again, you need to use your own sense of judgement and discretion.
During school days, I used to hate mathematics. How I used to despise it! I always thought that numbers were not my thing. Now, my old maths teachers would be pleasantly surprised if they were to find out how good I am at accounting right now. When you live alone, it becomes quintessential to manage and keep track of your expenses. So, learning and loving numbers became a necessity. I can most certainly say with pride that I do manage my finances quite well and has even managed to save up some money to spend on pursuing a new hobby or an old one.
Basically what I intend to say is that, to rely only on yourself makes you stronger. It makes you adept enough to take things in your stride, to make decisions, to think faster, to be aware and focused about that decisions that you make. Those everyday challenges are the little steps to big victories. You don’t have to be James Bond to live independently. You are born with the skill and capacity to learn and acquire new talents and skills. Those talents are hidden within you and they resurface when you are faced with challenges. What you need is the courage and confidence to cross those borders that hold you back because you are a citizen of the world.
Read More: The Citizen- Introduction to Independence
Watch: 3 Steps to help you choose to thrive- Ellen Antill
Co-Authored by Anju Lopez
