Do Social Norms Intersect With Self-Improvement?
Cidette Rice
September 26th, 2018
Mr.Roddy
Anthropology
Do Social Norms Intersect With Self-Improvement?
As of late, I’ve noticed many of those who suffer from damaging mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, O.C.D etc. make a concious effort to improve themselves and help reduce the impact of their condition(s). Of course, this is an incredible thing, but I’ve come to wonder whether or not there’s a social impact to it. Are they improving for others? For just themselves? Possibly a mix of both? Let’s see.
As a person who has also been looking to make this change, it’s easy to think of the basic steps. My first step was to cut out saying things that deteriorated my self-worth. This includes sayings like ‘I’m trash’ and ‘I’m so awful at this’. After I decided to cut these things out four months ago, I’ve already seen an insane amount of improvement with my self-assurance and a humble respect for what I can do. Still, that leads me back to the question, did I do this for myself, or for other people?
Being in a school with 60 other students, who all repeat the same ‘I’m trash at this’ etc. phrases really made me think it was normal to completely loath yourself. Of course, out of habait, started to say these kind of things around people who couldn’t relate to the struggle. I could see that it made them uncomfortable, so I decided to stop saying those kind of things.
During this time, I had also read a lot of articles and personal stories of people who struggled with the same issue(s). A large majority of the time, people stated that cutting out toxic talk that made you less than you are helped then to see a better path, one where they were more productive, happier, and had less turnmoil with themselves. I liked how this sounded, tried out it out for a week, and countinued with it.
Is there a self-influenced aspect of self-improvement? Yes, it’s in the name. You cannot get better if you don’t decide to make the long-term commitment. However, is there a social aspect to self-improvement? I would argue that in a vast majority of situations, most people try to improve not only for themselves, but for other people. On the rare occasion, some only way to improve for others, and some only want to improve for themselves. It doesn’t make their journey any more or any less valid. Either way, they’re making the effort to be better.
Source Used
September 26th, 2018
Mr.Roddy
Anthropology
Do Social Norms Intersect With Self-Improvement?
As of late, I’ve noticed many of those who suffer from damaging mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, O.C.D etc. make a concious effort to improve themselves and help reduce the impact of their condition(s). Of course, this is an incredible thing, but I’ve come to wonder whether or not there’s a social impact to it. Are they improving for others? For just themselves? Possibly a mix of both? Let’s see.
As a person who has also been looking to make this change, it’s easy to think of the basic steps. My first step was to cut out saying things that deteriorated my self-worth. This includes sayings like ‘I’m trash’ and ‘I’m so awful at this’. After I decided to cut these things out four months ago, I’ve already seen an insane amount of improvement with my self-assurance and a humble respect for what I can do. Still, that leads me back to the question, did I do this for myself, or for other people?
Being in a school with 60 other students, who all repeat the same ‘I’m trash at this’ etc. phrases really made me think it was normal to completely loath yourself. Of course, out of habait, started to say these kind of things around people who couldn’t relate to the struggle. I could see that it made them uncomfortable, so I decided to stop saying those kind of things.
During this time, I had also read a lot of articles and personal stories of people who struggled with the same issue(s). A large majority of the time, people stated that cutting out toxic talk that made you less than you are helped then to see a better path, one where they were more productive, happier, and had less turnmoil with themselves. I liked how this sounded, tried out it out for a week, and countinued with it.
Is there a self-influenced aspect of self-improvement? Yes, it’s in the name. You cannot get better if you don’t decide to make the long-term commitment. However, is there a social aspect to self-improvement? I would argue that in a vast majority of situations, most people try to improve not only for themselves, but for other people. On the rare occasion, some only way to improve for others, and some only want to improve for themselves. It doesn’t make their journey any more or any less valid. Either way, they’re making the effort to be better.
Source Used
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