…now when I was 15 years old, I had a very important person in my life come to me and say “who’s your hero?” And I said, “I don’t know, I gotta think about that. Give me a couple of weeks.” I come back two weeks later, this person comes up and says “who’s your hero?” I said, “I thought about it. You know who it is? It’s me in 10 years.” So I turned 25. Ten years later, that same person comes to me and says, “So, are you a hero?” And I was like, “not even close. No, no, no.” She said, “Why?” I said, “Because my hero’s me at 35.” So you see every day, every week, every month and every year of my life, my hero’s always 10 years away. I’m never gonna be my hero. I’m not gonna attain that. I know I’m not, and that’s just fine with me because that keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing. So, to any of us, whatever those things are, whatever it is we look up to, whatever it is we look forward to, and whoever it is we’re chasing, to that I say, “Amen.” To that I say, “Alright, alright, alright.” To that I say “just keep living.” Thank you.
For those of you who don’t know these words are part of, Hollywood Actor, Matthew McConaughey’s Acceptance Speech at the 2014 Academy Awards, where he won the Oscar for Best Actor in a leading role for the movie, Dallas Buyers Club.
I was home that day with a fever, watching the Oscars LIVE on T.V. I laughed and applauded as soon as he was done with his speech, which then turned into a coughing fit. But I digress.
That speech stuck with me for a long time. I didn’t really know what it was until I started thinking about the things he said. Mathew McConaughey was talking about chasing ‘The Best Version of Himself.’ And then I wondered, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’
Now a few years later, as I write this article, I believe the reason Mathew could get up on that stage and say these things were because he had clarity on who he was and what he wanted from his life. And much like Mathew, every successful (and I believe happy) person are effectively able to answer these questions which I believe are the reasons they are successful and happy in the first place.
So let’s give it a shot!
WHO ARE YOU?
The easiest way to answer this question is to ask yourself the following;
- What Angers you the most and Why? (That’s Prejudice)
- What Influences/Impacts your Behavior the most and Why? (That’s Love)
- What Scares you the most and Why? (That’s Shame)
Here’s the thing about these 3 questions or the three aspects (Prejudice, Love, and Shame) of these questions, they all relate to your weaknesses.
Only by understanding and accepting your weaknesses, can you ever understand who you are!
Accepting your weaknesses do not make you weak! They are part of who you are. They give you clarity on what you can do and what you can’t do.
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
Once you have clarity on who you are, the next step is to look towards the future. Yes, it can be uncertain, scary, confusing, etc, but like Mathew said in his very insightful and entertaining speech, ‘You have to be chasing the better, future you – YOUR HERO!’
- And, you now know what you can do and what you can’t do.
- Do you see your hero still being your hero, with your strengths and your weaknesses?
- If not, then work on the things you can’t do or work around them or work through them. By learning, collaborating, pushing yourself, testing your limits etc. No matter what you do, you have a direction for your life.
- Now tell me, what do you want from it?
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Originally published at bebee