Your Own Worst Enemy:
Nobody's Going to Save You From Yourself But Yourself
​
They say rules are made to be broken. This isn’t necessarily true, yet all rules are made up by somebody, at some time. Why do we have rules? Do we really need them?
We create rules to guide our own behaviour in order to help us coexist peacefully with our fellow humans. However, throughout the course of our lives, our actions and ideas rub up against these rules and create friction. Friction that can make or break a person.
Rules often seem illogical, unfair and restricting. At many times in our lives we find ourselves involved in some sort of conflict between our inner emotional reality and the high-pressure demands that are placed upon our shoulders by modern society. We behave in ways that ruin our reputations, destroy our possessions, or do the same thing for those around us.
Crime is the manifestation of when all of this rises to a breaking point. Sometimes, we’re the victim of crime, at other times, we’re the offender. Restorative justice is about repairing that broken link in the chain. All too often, though, our means of reparation aren’t clear or powerful enough to solve the issue, and justice seems impossible.
I spent most of my life breaking rules, and now my job is to try to help people understand them, and traverse them in order to benefit themselves and their lives. I’ve felt my fair share of honest justice, but I’ve also experienced my fair share of injustice. Sometimes the only real catalyst for true change and meaningful personal development to overcome life’s injustices is hitting rock bottom. No human emotion apart from despair and anguish compare with how much regret can cripple you. But it is these horribly negative experiences that make a person. They build them up and make them stronger. So never be afraid to try because failing is a part of life, and if you don’t get used to it now, it only becomes more difficult in your adult life.
Fear of failure is fear of living your best life. Embrace it! Nothing is going to save you but yourself.
The system is committed to protecting and defending us, but the system is an institution made up of people who need protecting and defending. And the system is broken.
Humans are imperfect and biased – influenced by the cultural forces that surround their individual existences. The system that has been built and designed to protect us can often fail. This is why poverty still exists all over our planet, and greed dominates our landscape.
Fate and circumstance place us in these difficult situations and we are forced to make tough decisions in order to overcome adversity. And this is the true measure of a person – how they personally have overcome that adversity.
Often, these choices are misunderstood or misinterpreted by others. Sometimes we are the ones who struggle to comprehend why certain choices were made, asking ourselves why someone did what they did. Why should I have to bear the brunt of another individual’s indecisions?
We usually don’t possess the tools needed to overcome the chaos that life throws at us. There isn’t always an easy and effective way to prepare for life’s harsh blows. But if we continue to turn our backs on the things that feel too hard to face up to, we begin to define ourselves by what we seek to avoid. So face your fears and learn from them, because nobody escapes this life without living through some sort of pain, fear or injustice. So face your fears and learn from them.
We all know that some people are faced with far more hardship than others, but can we really compare our own personal experiences? The answer is no. Everyone must deal with their own situations in their own way, and this is where we often become our own worst enemy.
Stress and anxiety can make us feel like there is no answer or way out. We can all feel hopeless at times, and that nobody cares about us. How do we restore this justice in a world that is so unfair?
So what do we do when we enter that place where we don’t know what to do anymore? I cannot answer this for you, you have to work that out for yourself. This can be overwhelming and feel like it is beyond our power, giving up is far from the answer. There aren’t any easy answers to this, as there is no easy way to live your life. Surrendering is not the way out. Never surrender. You only have one chance at life, so do yourself a favour and make the most of it while you’re here, because it will slip by quicker than you realise.
All we have to do is try, because nothing is going to save us from ourselves but ourselves.