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Figure yourself out
You deserve it
Worth your time
-安天美
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The command to "figure yourself out" might initially sound simple, but it carries the weight of life's most profound undertaking. Self-discovery isn't a luxury but a necessity, a sacred expedition into the terrain of your soul. Like archaeologists unearthing ancient civilisations, we must dig through layers of societal expectations, family patterns, and personal history to discover the artefacts of our authentic selves.
This journey requires courage to face what we find beneath the surface. The shadows we've hidden, the dreams we've abandoned, the wounds we've bandaged but never properly healed. Figuring yourself out means standing in front of the mirror that reflects not just your face but the entirety of your being, with all its complexities and contradictions.
When we embark on this internal exploration, we often discover that what we thought defined us is merely the scaffolding around our true essence. The roles we play, the masks we wear, the identities we've constructed become transparent, revealing something more fundamental and unchanging beneath. The core self that remains when everything else is stripped away.
"You deserve it" speaks to the fundamental truth that self-knowledge is not a privilege reserved for the few but a birthright for all. In a world that often measures worth through productivity and achievement, taking time for self-discovery can feel indulgent. Yet this poem reminds us that understanding ourselves is not selfish but essential.
This declaration of deserving carries echoes of ancestors who fought for our right to exist fully. It honours those who came before us, who dreamed of a world where their children's children could live not just in physical freedom but in psychological liberation. When we claim the space to know ourselves, we fulfil the hopes of generations who could only imagine such luxury.
The affirmation of deserving also challenges the internalised voices that whisper we should be content with less, that we should shrink our needs and silence our questions. It invites us to expand instead, to grow into the fullness of who we are meant to become.
The final line, "Worth your time," speaks to a profound truth about how we allocate our most precious resource. In an age where countless forces compete for our attention, the choice to direct it inward represents a radical reordering of priorities. This isn't casual advice but an urgent investment strategy for the currency of our lives.
Time spent in self-discovery yields dividends that can't be measured in conventional terms. Unlike external pursuits that often leave us depleted, the hours dedicated to understanding ourselves generate a renewable energy that fuels everything else. The clarity that comes from self-knowledge illuminates every decision, relationship, and creative endeavour that follows.
This value proposition challenges the cultural narrative that measures worth primarily through external productivity. Instead, it suggests that the time spent in reflection, in therapy, in meditation, in journaling, in conversation with trusted friends is not time taken away from living but time that enhances the quality of every moment that follows. Like farmers who know that fallow fields are not unproductive but regenerating, we recognise that periods of inward focus prepare the soil for future abundance.
There is something quietly revolutionary about the act of claiming ownership of your own life story. In a world that profits from self-doubt and external validation, the decision to understand yourself from within rather than through others' perceptions disrupts powerful systems.
When we figure ourselves out, we become harder to manipulate. The marketplace loses its grip when we recognise our intrinsic value apart from what we consume or produce. Relationships transform when we enter them from a place of self-knowledge rather than seeking others to define us. Work changes when we choose it based on genuine calling rather than external pressure.
This revolution begins in quiet moments of honest self-reckoning. It happens in dawn meditations and midnight journal entries, in conversations where truth breaks through pretence, in moments when we finally listen to the wisdom of our bodies and emotions instead of silencing them.
When we understand ourselves more deeply, we bring that clarity to our communities. We parent with greater awareness, breaking generational patterns of harm. We create art that speaks truth because we've first spoken it to ourselves. We lead organisations with integrity because we've integrated the fragmented parts of our own psyches. The time invested in understanding ourselves yields fruit that feeds the broader ecosystem of humanity.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/backward_blue.svg" alt="/icons/backward_blue.svg" width="40px" /> Rivers of Knowing
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<aside> <img src="/icons/forward_blue.svg" alt="/icons/forward_blue.svg" width="40px" /> Back to Reality
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