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Real Self vs Ideal Self

When we were young; say hardly ten years old, our relatives never failed to ask us one question what do you want to become in life? And we being the one with sparkling imaginations, never failed to come up with fancy answers for that question. Be it doctor, musician, astronaut, dancer , actor, painter and what not.

As we grew older, our dreams shifted more towards practically possible options than our mere interest. Later on, in our life we set goals based on the various factors mainly revolving around our expectation of the future. No wonder “where do you see yourself in next five years?” is one of the frequently asked questions in an interview.

Often while making plans for the success we consider only the ideal situation. “In 5 years, I’ll be working as a chief officer, I’d own a car and my own house” that is achievable but requires a hard work and firm determination. Reality is more stressful than the ideal situation of course. However, aiming for achieving an ideal goal for leading an ideal life (the way you imagined it) can be considered success, but not always.

Sometimes in order to achieve that ideal situation one lives a life of struggle without satisfaction. “I should be doing .. I should have done it by now…” always creates a pressure on one‘s shoulders which is sometimes really hard to manage especially if the ideal situation is deviating from the reality. 

Source: www.davidgardner.co
Consider these two scenarios. Ideally, I should wake up before sunrise, start my day on a good note by adding exercise and mediation to my routine, I should be a pleasant colleague, and a friend , I should spend less time on social networking sites or apps and more on face to face interaction with people, I should take some time out for my loved ones, I should indulge in reading a good book or doing what I love. But in reality what happens is, I wake up early because “I have to be somewhere, so basically my day starts on a lethargic note. I lack time management, have loads of pending work, thereby less time for myself or social interactions. My day ends on an exhausting note.
Both the scenario mentioned above are plausible. I am sure we live in a world where living ideal life everyday doesn’t seem much feasible because in order to survive we have to become part of this dynamic, competitive world. Some days we live up to our ideal expectations while some days we are stuck with stress and disheartening. 
 

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Some days we are supposed to be the ideal self, behave in an ideal manner while sometimes we need to be our “real self instead of being under constant pressure to be an ideal self. We need to enjoy the thrilling ,stimulating ride that life is, while sometimes we have to rise above our selfish perspective and be the light bearer; the ideal inspiration for others.

Perfect balance between the two is important for the poised and calm life. In the struggle between real me vs ideal me sometimes real self dominates the other, vice versa. What we need to understand is both sides are of the same person. When they work hand in hand; they complement each other. Sometimes life wants us to be practical while sometimes it wants us to live up to the expectations. The choice is ours in the end.

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