Self Reliance

2 Pages 550 Words

After reading Emerson’s “Self Reliance” I have discovered that self-reliance is the most significant aspect in my life. Emerson talks about inspiring ideas, which involves trusting and only answering to thyself. He believes in saying exactly what you think, not to be what your not and to live only by what you believe to be the best. “There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide.” To translate this Emerson quote one can say that if a man is jealous of other people, he will ignore his own qualities and if a man tries to be like other people, he will lose himself; like suicide.
When I was younger it was hard for me to have faith in myself. I would always try to fit in to the so-called “cool crowd” and when I didn’t get accepted I began to resent them. What I tried to finally do was copy them, their clothes, their taste in music, and the actions that they took. It was then that I realized that I didn’t like their clothes, their taste in music and the things they did. I realized that by me imitating them I lost myself. I began to take the road less traveled, to see things in a different way than anyone did. I wanted to be unique and I wanted to be accepted for being my own person. After discovering that I liked being me was when I made my greatest of friends. They like that I always say what’s on my mind and that I don’t let anyone’s actions influence mine. “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, -- that is genius.” I believe now that imitation is the result of jealously and in order for me to succeed in life I had to believe that I could do it.
For one to accomplish their goals and meet their destiny, they must choose self-reliance as the answer. Self-reliance lets one know that it is essential to realize that all choices in life come down to ...