How to be your own man

There are no short cuts in striving to be your own man. I realise there are many funny people out there who insist on telling you, someone who you hardly know died for you or paid the price and from now onwards it’s easy street. But to me that’s just a crock of shit!

Truth is this. To be your own man requires dedication, preserverance and above all education. I am not talking about the skill sets to accumulate stuff like money. Sure financial Liberty is certainly important. But I happen to believe that attitude and outlook is far more important.

Where does one even begin to reclaim back the self? That’s the question I get asked a lot.

I happen to believe striving to be comfortable alone may well be a very good place to start. Being alone can teach a man many things about himself that he previously did not know about himself. Or maybe just took for granted. I am not going to be a spoiler by listing out the things that may jump out like skeletons in the cupboard when a man consciously decides to dedicate his mind, body and spirit to this endeavour. I will however say this, very early on into the journey, one is almost assaulted by the idea how inadequately prepared we are to handle the whole idea of loneliness.

I will give this much in the way of advise….it has to be sparing….so here goes.

The way I see it, the trouble is not really in being alone….not at all….that to me is just a medium…..it’s being assaulted by feelings of loneliness and not being able to cope with the sense of abandonment that actually accounts for suffering. That to me is the real problem.

And I am not even talking about feeling lonely just because you happen to be marooned in an island like Robinson Cruseo. One can be lonely in the midst of a crowd, don’t you think so?

That’s why to me – it’s so important for a man who truly desires to own all of himself to strive to comfortable all alone.

The paradox of our age is we talk so often about emancipation…freedom…and independence. But most people aren’t even comfortable with the idea of dinning out alone or going to watch an afternoon matinee all by themselves.

To me…there is something terribly wrong with this picture.