“Public declaration is the highest form of visioning. Live the grandest version of the greatest vision you ever had about Who You Are. Begin the living of it by declaring it. Publicly. The first step in making it so is saying it is so.”
I’ve recently been challenged to “live the grandest version of the greatest vision” of myself. Now, I wouldn’t say my life has been thrown off-compass, but I would declare that it would only benefit me to re-focus on the direction in which I’m heading and the purpose behind it. I’m finding that as I get older, the complexities of everyday living make it much easier to lose sight of what is important. While I wouldn’t say that I have lost sight of what takes meaning in my life, I will take ownership of the fact that perhaps I have not publicly declared such things. I’m not suggesting that I walk around vocalizing the matters which concern me the most in my vision of life. My biggest challenge is to declare this vision of myself through my actions. However, in order to “live the grandest version of the greatest vision” of Who I Am, it would help if I identified it first. You can see this is where the writing helps!
I’m a planner and an organizer. It only suits that this vision of myself be organized as well…
Educational and Career Aspirations
In my greatest vision, I follow my passion for education as far as it will take me. At this moment, I want to obtain a masters. However, in this vision, I do not limit myself to the extent that I learn and the way in which I do so. I challenge myself to make every moment a learning opportunity, and be thankful for whatever knowledge I obtain.
When I’m older and I look back at the career(s) that I have had, I want to know that the mission of my job was greater than myself. Whether I educate, research, provide aid, organize events, my career will emphasize the importance of humanity.
What I Stand For
In my greatest vision, I live a life that I am proud of. This does not mean that I do not make mistakes, and this does not mean that I don’t look back at things and say, “I would never do that again.” What this does mean is that I treat each decision in my life as a valuable one. It also means that I do not ignore the consequences, even if they do not affect me the moment the deciding occurs.
I stand up for what I believe to be the most objectively fair. Critique this last statement as much as you want. I know fairness and beliefs are all relative; however, I agree with Durkheim that there’s a collective conscience among individuals. While I know that my reality is limited to just me, I want to use my perspective of the world to best defend the rights of humanity. In my vision, I will stand up for what I believe is fair, while keeping my mind open to other people’s realities. I also challenge myself to find any intersections.
Values that I want individuals to associate with my existence are honesty, righteousness, humility, sincerity, conscientiousness, trustworthiness, loyalty, and loving (note: Lauren: version 23.2 may have this list edited, it may not).
Matters of the Heart
In my greatest vision, I do my very best to see that I approach everyone with compassion and empathy. I challenge myself to understand rather than make judgments, and I allow myself to learn from each individual that enters my world. Even if the individual and I are incompatible, share different ideals, or I just plain don’t ever want to see them again, I give them the respect that comes from their existence teaching me something.
I have love in my life, whether it’s temporary or permanent, that knows no pain. Sure there will be disagreements, conflicts, and hurdles which naturally influence pain, but I keep events separate from feelings. I love without regrets, I love with trust and acceptance, and I gladly give my heart to a person or people of my choosing. I will not allow anyone to take it.
As for romantic partners, the person who I am with respects me and loves me for exactly who I am, not despite of who I am. I also respect and honor the right of this individual to have the same.
Whenever it is my time to leave this world, I want everyone to know that I love them. While I am living, I think it is important to distinguish the different types of love and varying degrees of it amongst the people in my life. However, there is one type of love that is constant for every individual who enters into it. In some way or another, each individual has impacted my existence— whether they’ve changed the course of events that happen in my day or they’ve influenced something as serious as my worldview. Regardless, each day, each moment, each feeling has contributed to who I am and who I will be. So, the love that I want everyone to receive from me is one of gratitude.
As I continue to grow, my grandest vision of Who I Am will grow as well.
