JUST DO IT A Discussion on Motivation

when i was young my father would always

push me

no matter the situation or the

circumstance i remember

one day my fifth grade math teacher told

me that i was not smart

and i had no hope in passing the

end-of-year exam because i was stupid

now fifth grade me at the time was

feeling embarrassed and overall

horrible of course he had to say this in

front of the whole

entire class making me feel worthless

i didn’t know what to do so i walked

around with my head down and had no

pride in who i was

that night i came crying home to my mom

and dad feeling like a disappointment

and ashamed

my mom and dad looked at me and said

stop you know who you are and you know

how much effort you put into the things

you do and you will not let some teacher

let you think any differently

you are smart and you will pass

that night we got straight to work i

studied and studied and learned more and

more and i would always push myself

and if i didn’t my dad would and don’t

get me wrong sometimes it ended up with

me being annoyed at him and wishing he

would just stop

but he said that is how you become

the best and who doesn’t want to be the

best right

i was still fearful though of what would

happen if my teacher was right

what would happen if all my hard work

was for nothing and i still ended up

disappointing my parents

looking back now i can’t thank my

parents enough for pushing me

because it has turned me into the person

i am today

fearless now this doesn’t mean i don’t

get scared or nervous because believe me

i do

but now i choose to face it head on

oh and by the way i ended up passing

highest in my class that year

by a young age we are faced with the

unknown from when we learn how to walk

talk

and swim all things that are essential

elements and will benefit us in the

future

and if not taught we would be put at a

disadvantage from all the others

as babies we weren’t given the choice to

cower fear was unknown to us back then

now we know what fear and disappointment

are

sometimes they go hand in hand with the

unknown with such a negative connotation

to the word already why this is a

surprise that people stray away from the

unknown

but by not choosing the unknown you’re

depriving yourself of new experiences

and that is exactly why exploring the

unknown is the most valuable thing you

can experience in life

we have all gone through the frustration

of having to pick a movie with our

families

one wants to watch a movie about history

the other one about comedy what about

action and at the end of the day you

waste more time

in picking the movie than actually

watching it but

one day we didn’t argue my dad put on

the movie and me at the time thinking

this was probably going to be the worst

movie ever

me after the movie let’s just say i was

in awe

i was fascinated by the movie i thought

how have i never watched this movie

before and

made me think so much about how life

works and the possibilities of what goes

on in the world

you might even know the movie it’s

called the matrix

and one of the most famous quotes from

this film is the blue

or the red pill that is the choice that

the main character neo faces

the rebel leader morpheus tells him that

if he takes the blue pill

the story will end neil will wake up in

his bed and believe whatever he wants to

believe

but he says if you take the red pill

you will remain in wonderland and i’ll

show you how far the rabbit hole goes

most of us in life would take the blue

pill we choose the illusion of certainty

day after day instead of the chaotic

truth of

change as a consequence facts become

irrelevant and misconceptions and fake

news flourish

taking the red pill will most likely

expose information

you didn’t want to know but

being uneasily doubtful is much better

than being comfortably mistaken

in the end neil picks the red pill he

figures out the truth and he finds out

that he’s been living in a manufactured

world called

the matrix from his clothes to where he

goes to work

all he sees is an illusion designed to

blind him from reality

this is a problem that many teens face

today

for example natalie has many friends

they talk all the time and they’re

always so nice to her

but one day someone comes up to her and

tells her that her friends have been

talking bad behind her back

at first she is shocked she doesn’t know

what to do should she confront her

friends or should she stay

silent in the end she decides not to

believe the truth of the matter

she’s in denial because it is easier for

her to keep on believing that they are

her friends

she is scared she is scared of what will

happen if she confronts them

she’s scared who she will hang out with

because of her fear of the unknown

natalie could have found better friends

if only she had dared to venture into

the unknown

this is not something that can only be

related to teens today

as adults it may be even harder for you

to take risks

some things that could be unknown to

adults could be how to get out of an

abusive relationship

how to ask for a promotion or more

importantly how to ask for a vacation

because we all know that’s a must need

but we start to overthink before we even

ask what if they say no what if i get

fired

what if they think i’m lazy in times

like this i like to think of nike and

don’t laugh at me okay

but just do it just do it you have

so much responsibility and let’s be

honest as adults you aren’t supposed to

make mistakes

teens and kids can make mistakes but not

you you’re supposed to be an expert at

this whole

life thing um yeah no i don’t think so

whoever told you that is probably

struggling way more than you are right

now

but that is the illusion society gives

off

society can play a really big role in

people’s decision-making

society shapes us and decides what

occupation is appropriate for us

how we should look and to whom we should

talk to society shapes us into who they

want

us to be but as evolution shows we are

starting to outgrow

society’s social norms things that were

back then are no longer

now remember that you were born with the

right to have your own beliefs and if

you let society change that you’re no

longer yourself

in past decade many experiments have

shed light on the role

of social norms in influencing

individuals decision making

for example it has been argued that

punishment and emotion are two

key factors involved with norm

compliance

so now you might be thinking that

choosing the unknown will always turn

out good right

no that is not always true but many

people do overlook a key

element learning though it may not have

been the best experience

you ended up learning so now if that

situation were ever to come back again

you know what to do the second time

around you know not to make the same

mistakes

the people that choose the safe path

wouldn’t they would keep on making the

same mistakes

over and over again the greatest enemy

of knowledge is not ignorance as the

late stephen hawking said

it is the illusion of knowledge the

illusion of knowledge closes our ears

and blocks off outside sources of

incoming experiences

don’t let pride get in the way of you

experiencing new things it’s okay not to

know how to handle a problem

i know there were many times in my life

where i didn’t know what to do and i was

afraid to make mistakes

until mr clegg a wise teacher of mine

told me

sin boldly make mistakes that is how you

will become better

what i took away from that was if you’re

willing to fail

or maybe be disappointed in the end you

will learn

so now some of you might be wanting to

take a step forward and start exploring

the unknown

while the other half of you are just

ready to leave or and hear another

talk but to those who maybe want to

start exploring the unknown

but don’t know how an article by saw in

westbrook

says the three brain regions implicated

with fear conditioning and extinction

are the amygdala

the prefrontal cortex and the

hippocampus the article also says

extinction of fear occurs when the

association between the condition

and unconditioned stimuli is broken by

repeated presentation of the conditioned

stimuli

basically what it is saying is that in

order to break your fear of the unknown

or anything in general you must repeat

it over and over again

until you are no longer triggered by it

and it becomes normal

so whenever you get the chance to

venture onto the untraveled path

take it for that is the only way to

break the fear

in the end you can’t learn how to deal

with life problems just by reading a

book

only by going out and exploring the

unknown will you truly

understand just like anamore limburg

says and yet it is the unknown with all

its disappointments and surprises that

is the most

enriching and that is precisely why

exploring the unknown is the most

valuable thing you can experience in

life

thank you