At this confusing, yet fascinating stage of our lives, we fail to place value on the aspects of life that truly matter. At sixteen years of life, that is over 834 weeks, or 5, 840 days, or 140, 160 hours, I am still unable to control my emotions wholly, to push all negativity out of my mind, my soul, and project positive emotions. What about you? Do your emotions control your actions, or do you control them? My emotions, often projected through words have been one of the most costly, if not the most costly aspect of my life. And, I realize this, I realize that we can’t take back the words we say to the people we love, and yet, I am still unable to master my emotions. You and I both know the agony of regretting words we have said, from lies to envious phrases, or even ones out of anger. Maybe you gossiped about that girl in the hallway wearing the most ridiculous outfit possible, or the boy beside you who failed his lab exam. What about your teachers, your siblings?
Words can be our enemy or our best friend, bite us as a mosquito would to revealed skin in Bangladesh, or be the pleasant opportunity to advance our career, our friendships, and all other relationships. Everybody gets annoyed, angry. That’s just who we are, but it’s the way that we deal with our anger that shapes just about everything we are, that makes billionaires, makes life worth living. Words are terrifyingly dangerous, whether they are on a piece of paper, or said. We just can’t forget that one time somebody called us fat, anorexic, or hatefully declared that we don’t deserve to live. Or, that one time Donald Trump stated, “I don’t have a racist bone in my body,” two years ago on Entertainment Tonight.
“Watch your thoughts. They become words. Watch your words. They become deeds. Watch your deeds. They become habits. Watch your habits. They become character.”
This single quote will get you into medical school, it will get you into law school, and it will get you places higher than you could imagine, on top of the tallest mountain that your heart desires to climb. The end goal for me has always been to make most of my 24 hours, 1, 140 minutes, 86, 400 seconds, to lead incredible change with my biomedical research. We all get the same 24 hours, and to waste them crying, in regret or angry at someone is absolutely ridiculous. We spend so much of our time making excuses, yelling, and being uncooperative that we don’t realize that we need to change ourselves first before changing the world, and its problems.
It’s all about your words, and silence is at times your best bet. Words have started wars, caused kids to commit suicides, allowed tyrants to manipulate millions, allowed for the discussion of brilliant ideas, and communicated love.
People call it EQ, or emotional intelligence, but to me, it’s always been a common sense, or control sort of thing. Regardless, it definitely has some science behind it. Essentially, EQ is the capability to recognize your own emotions, and those of the people around you, to be able to adjust your emotions according to your surroundings, and to manage even negative emotions to achieve a positive goal. Without a doubt, this maturity and insight comes with experience, with all the mistakes that we make, and the failures we encounter. But, why not learn from other people’s mistakes, instead of making our own?
Here’s a link to find out your EQ.
I’m sitting at an average EQ. How about you?
Phrase of the year: Sorry, love you, thank you.
Source: Featured Image
