Daring Greatly

In my day-to-day life, all I hear about is what graduate school someone is applying to or what fantastic internship someone has received. The constant burden of “becoming a better you” is pretty overwhelming. Although I’ve never felt an immense amount of pressure academically to achieve the highest standard, I know what it’s like to memorize an excerpt from a Shakespeare play within a two-day time frame by constantly muttering lines out loud:

“The lunatic, the lover, and the poet

are of an imagination all compact.

One sees more devils than hell can hold;

That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,

Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.

The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;

And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen

Turns them to shapes, and gives to aery nothing

A local habitation and a name.

Personally it’s exhausting even listening to peers and their extra curricular activities. Simply being well rounded does not guarantee anything; let alone whatever one’s definition of success may be.

            Being perfect is not an attainable state for humans. In our society, however, we are brought up and raised to hold this as our standard. I prefer to use everyday experiences in order to improve who I am physically, mentally, and spiritually. Giving myself time to meditate or think about issues that aren’t always discussed in the classroom and making healthy lifestyle choices are steps that allow myself to stay balanced even with a hectic schedule. With this as my outlook, I don’t see what the fuss about New Years resolutions are all about. Change is constant; therefore, we shouldn’t need the coming of a new calendar year in order to make better decisions. As a result of using everyday to become what I define as a better person, I am able to see progress on a daily basis, instead of feeling defeated if I don’t reach a state of perfection by February. Being vulnerable is part of our human nature and putting yourself out there is a part of life.

            With this over-achieving lifestyle surrounding me, I was instantly interested when I came across an article on the idea of perfection. Roosevelt defines it most accurately in his speech, Citizen in a Republic, by associating the experience of failure to one’s idea of success. Without failure, one won’t truly know how delicious the taste of success is. Roosevelt urges Americans to “dare greatly [because] there is no effort without error and shortcoming”.

            Therefore, instead of letting failure define how far one can achieve, let it be used as a form of motivation to propel one into greatness. And let the condition of how one defines greatness be determined on that person’s own terms. So next time you attempt a task and no do not reach the standard of perfection do not dwell. In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, remember being human means being someone “who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly”.

Megan Gallagher