TheDartmouth.com: Kornberg: Saving Perspective: "we’re simultaneously repulsed by and obsessed with truly exceptional professional achievement. "
I've said this a million times but I think I have to say it the most now - you have to believe in yourself. You can't be afraid of being on top. No one is perfect but everyone must cultivate a sense of self worth. It's not arrogance. You have to do this because no one is going to do it for you. You have to say, for example, "I'm worth it. I'm good enough to go to an Ivy League school" even if somehow you don't actually go to one.
This is not to say Ivy League schools are perfect (they're not), or that people who didn't get in, didn't try hard enough (absolutely untrue). This is to say that no matter where you end up, it's important to see yourself as worthy of success.
Why? Because our culture is always telling us not to "self-call" or draw attention to our greatness. For example, the Occupy movement tries to create this "us vs. them" mentality where the 99% is at war with a demonized 1%. This simple dichotomy is hurtful and erroneous for many reasons the largest one being that no one should be demonized for being successful. You cannot better anyone by tearing others down.
We're taught to fear greatness in others and even in ourselves. A great poem (below) begins by saying "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." But to fear our own greatness is to do ourselves in. You don't have to be showy but at some point you must "let your light so shine before men" or else it will be extinguished. You're worth it. Go out and seize the day.
Always remember to take hold and seize opportunities when they come. Never think you're not worth it because you are. It's yours; you just have to reach out and grab it; don't let others take it away. Life is more of a zero-sum game than most people realize or are willing to admit. Whenever you win, in the stock market, in college applications, etc. someone just lost and vice versa. So even if you are rejected in the end, you should give your all just to have a fighting chance. The only time you are 100% likely to be rejected is if you don't take that chance. Always take that chance.
- Ryu
The great poem I mentioned:
Brilliant, Talented and Fabulous
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our Light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented
and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people
won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own Light shine, we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically
liberates others.Marrianne Williamson
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