The Two of Us

Everybody has two versions of themselves in their heads- 1) the person they are 2)  the person they wish they were.

I may be wrong, and probably there indeed are people out there who are perfectly happy with what they are and wouldn’t want to change a thing about themselves. But I’m gonna take a wild guess and assume that most people don’t have that contentment – we always keep wishing we were better. Better than the version that we are today.

If you notice my above statement, you’d see that I’m not talking about what ‘you have’, but rather, simply, just what ‘you are’. What you don’t have today could be achieved with determination and effort, if it’s practical and you know how to get it. But what you want to be, that’s a slightly different ballgame. Let’s put ‘rich’ and ‘famous’ out of this as they’re not really concrete destinations and need a specific aspiration to hold ground.

Much of our life is spent in trying to bridge the gap between these two people. We fantasize about this other person, we know what they have that we don’t. We keep saying to ourselves that one day, we’re gonna finally be him. But working towards it always ends up to be harder than it seems. In a strange twist, our conscience seems reluctant and lazy to let go of the status quo. How many times have you resolved to start that one activity – and gave up miserably as you just couldn’t fit it into your life? Like, take me for example, I want to work out more, want to have a better sleep schedule, want to be a much better friend to people around me, a better son to my parents – and in my mind all of this seems achievable. But how successful have I been in my attempt? That’s totally debatable.

And I also know that it’s very easy to lead our entire lives like this. Maintaining a considerable gap between what we are and what we aspire to be. But I realized that I don’t wanna be on my death bed and have regrets about what could have been! So I really have to figure out how I’m gonna cut all the crap outta my life and actually work towards being who I really wanna be.

Because in the end, we have to try don’t we? That’s what keeps our life chugging along. A hope for a better tomorrow but more importantly, a better us.

Image Courtesy: Shadow