365 Days (Part 2) | ✓

282. Promise to Yourself

282. Promise to Yourself: Write about a promise you want to make to yourself and keep.

I had to consider this question a bit. There's something about being 18 that makes this question especially poignant. It’s surreal to be teetering on the cusp of the rest of your life, and knowing I'm about to fall, I want to make sure I have lots of balloons to keep me from hitting the ground hard.

But what's one promise I want to keep?

I know it.

I promise myself my mind will remain my own. I won't simply accept something the news tells me. I won't believe in rumors. I won't listen to gossip. I will form my own opinions based on facts I find myself and if I don't know my own opinion, I'll keep my mouth shut on the matter.

And you know what? It's okay to not know your own opinion sometimes. I'll form mine, but I'll take time to do it so I know I truly believe the thing which I advocate. Sometimes, when you don't know your own thoughts and beliefs on a certain issue, people will either force you to choose something or they’ll scoff and imply you're inferior for not knowing your own mind. That's not true. Just because you've never considered a matter before doesn't mean you're stupid. You've just never had that issue brought to your attention. I don't think Archimedes ever considered the dynamics of a computer, but does that make him any less brilliant? No, he remains just as brilliant and as hated as before for creating pi.

I don't want to take other people's opinions as my own without knowing why they think that. I don't want to listen to the media about the presidential debate because I know that all media is biased. I'll listen to the debates myself instead of hearing someone else's summarization. I especially won't for my opinions on the candidates based on memes.

I want to be slow in how I consider others, so I have a better chance of giving them their true estimation.