Why do I sometimes feel lost? I feel like I'm driftingâjust being moved through the tides because I don't know what else to do. There are far too many expectations. It's exhausting to measure up. I seem to be busy, but I'm uncertain of where I'm headed or if I'm doing the right things. When is it good enough?
If you have any of these questions, then this book is for you. Author CJ Lacsican won't answer them for you. Instead, with you, she looks back at her personal and career journeys as she inspires you to do the same. Let Yourself Be is a nontraditional life storyâraw, inspiring, and fascinatingly filled with life's complexities. Through struggles, but with grace and humor, she shares her inner thought processes, tragedies, pain, triumphs, and the relentless pursuit to better herself.
At eight years old, CJ became the strongest at her darkest of hours. She hopes to awaken every readerâto encourage them to embrace and learn from their pasts, challenge themselves and the direction they are headed, and face the world with gratitude and optimism. As a photography enthusiast, CJ also gives you a glimpse of her favorite photos from across the world.
Why do I sometimes feel lost? I feel like I'm driftingâjust being moved through the tides because I don't know what else to do. There are far too many expectations. It's exhausting to measure up. I seem to be busy, but I'm uncertain of where I'm headed or if I'm doing the right things. When is it good enough?
If you have any of these questions, then this book is for you. Author CJ Lacsican won't answer them for you. Instead, with you, she looks back at her personal and career journeys as she inspires you to do the same. Let Yourself Be is a nontraditional life storyâraw, inspiring, and fascinatingly filled with life's complexities. Through struggles, but with grace and humor, she shares her inner thought processes, tragedies, pain, triumphs, and the relentless pursuit to better herself.
At eight years old, CJ became the strongest at her darkest of hours. She hopes to awaken every readerâto encourage them to embrace and learn from their pasts, challenge themselves and the direction they are headed, and face the world with gratitude and optimism. As a photography enthusiast, CJ also gives you a glimpse of her favorite photos from across the world.
Have you ever wondered what your lifeâs purpose is? I bet you have! At a certain point, everyone tends to question why we are here. Why are we here? What is meaning to you? The question of purpose is innate to every one of us. If you have the answer, share it with the world, please. A lot of us would appreciate it.
Would you agree that we were born in this world not knowing exactly what we need to do? Growing up, certain societal standards have been imposed upon usâgood grades, good behavior, good friends, staying healthy, excelling in sports or the arts, and so on and so forth. And because of these standards, whether we admit it or not, internally, we also expect the same for ourselves. We feel that we must be this or that to achieve our purpose. Do we simply exist here to be good? Is that it? If itâs that straightforward, why do we still feel incomplete and undecided about our lifeâs directions. What is right or wrong, good or bad?
Then we get to ask ourselves, if we constantly fall short of the standards of good as we know to be true in our minds, as instilled since childhood, what then is good enough? Should we consider ourselves failures in life if we do not achieve what is expected by others or even ourselves? Are we absolute screwups when we have wronged and terribly hurt other people? If we have failed and become better but again make a mistake, are we still not good enough?
If youâve never at some point in your life asked these questions, I may be standing in the world alone with these thoughts because I have certainly asked them over and over throughout the years.
I wish finding the right path and purpose was simple. But no, this isnât black and white; thatâs only for photography and old movies. Thereâs no straight answer. We all know thisâevery journey is dependent on a multitude of factors. That is what makes life interesting. However, we often talk about other peopleâs lives rather than ours. Note to self: Mind your own business!
Day in and day out, we try our best to be the best version of ourselves.
Day in and day out, some of us go to school to learn. Arguably, some people even think that school is where we practice discipline. Though some of us feel that teachers are either modern-day heroes or demons pretending to be angels. Sometimes they really test our limits and make us question the point. Even if better time-management skill is developed, we feel that the required schoolwork is too much. I may be saying this largely from an Asian context, but do they really expect us not to sleep at all in order to complete all our required homework and projects? Are we not good enough if we choose to sleep eight hours instead of doing what is necessary for good grades?
When you consider the current generation of students, you realize that expectations have risen in a significant way. Succeeding academically was already difficult 20 years ago, but I donât remember the workload being this heavy.
Getting accepted into a good school now creates so much anxiety for children and parents. Families are required to live in proximity, are expected to earn x amount per year and must have excellent letters of recommendation. The many months of waiting to find out whether you are good enough for academia is highly emotional.
It is equally tough to stay and earn good grades. Where are the pragmatic expectations? If work-life-balance is becoming a huge issue right nowâso much that companies around the world are creating all sorts of benefits for their employees to achieve itâcan we not create school-life-balance?
And then, when we graduate and enter the workforce, there are more expectations. Day in and day out, we go to work, give it our best shot hoping that at some point in the future we are rewarded for excellent performance. And we strive toward our chosen careers largely for two reasonsârecognition and money. Well, there is a minority of people who really kick-ass for the sole purpose of helping other people grow. Bless those souls. They are the modern-day saints.
Letâs be real, most of us work to survive and be able to buy the things that we want for ourselves and for those that we love. The majority of us also have this insatiable need to be recognized for doing something good. For some reason, we need validation that we are on the right track or at least doing something worthwhile. We have a deep need to be someone that our family and friends can be proud of.
When you have achieved a certain level of work status or are able to purchase high ticket items, such as a house or a premium car, you are good! But are you really? Perhaps⌠This all depends on who you are asking and their perception of contentment.
Day in and day out, we talk to and connect with our family and friends either in person or through social media. We want to connect, we want to belong, we want to be loved. For some, they share their innermost thoughts. Pardon my French, but some people just donât give a shit about your thoughts. To each their own, right? Let them be.
Besides, I canât be hypocritical, though I usually post landscape photos from my travels, I occasionally post photos of my meals too, especially those amazing cuisines from different countries or at the very least, my favorites. Just check how many beef goulash posts I have made since I moved to Hungary. Youâll instantly realize how much I love it. Itâs my favorite meal in the entire world! Itâs quite sad that I had to cut down on it to stay healthier.
Okay, to be honest, I was overdoing it. I ate it almost every day for four months.
If you have a lot of people following you or liking your posts, does that mean in this day and age that you are well connected or that you belong? Is it a new yardstick used to measure being good, being better than others?
For some, how they look online is part of being image-conscious. Day in and day out, we worry about how we look or how we present ourselves. I have recently noticed that thereâs this huge market for health and wellness. This is particularly noticeable with the rise of portable fitness systems, health and activity monitoring apps, mental fitness studios, rejuvenation devices and beauty products, multifunction protein shaker bottles, and calorie-controlled food packages. I could go on and on.
If you ask me, the health and wellness industry is an amazing business to be in right now. Itâs one of those pull products where people keep craving more. These products practically market themselves. You can see people all over attesting to what works for them and spreading the word online. You only need to give out sample products and voilĂ , you get your free word-of-mouth marketing. Do they still call it word-of-mouth? Or should I call it, digital word-of-mouth marketing or simply viral marketing? Whatever! You get my point.
In the past, if you smoked a cigarette, you were cool. Having a bottle of coke was awesome, then it became a normal day-to-day drink. But not today! How much sugar does it contain again? No colored drinks, please. And oh, I am happy to pay extra for a bottled water, which is probably not even necessary. And did you know that in some countries, vodka or wine is cheaper than water?
With all the pressure to do well, earn well, and look good, day in and day out, we are bombarded by all sorts of emotions. On a good day, the emotions are obviously positive. But you and I know that sometimes we experience those dramatic and disproportionate levels of emotion. When you consider the inertia of your life, plunging ahead of you and youâre almost powerless to stop it.
Some emotions lead to nervousness, fear, and worryâemotions that sometimes just make you want to run away from everyone and everything. Emotions that lead some people to resort to drinking or substance abuse, just to have a temporary escape. Others turn to meditation and yoga.
By the way, this is another âinâ thing right now. Yoga for inner awareness, mental peace, freedom, and happinessâor maybe just yoga for a sexy body? Donât judge! We do what we must do to tame our inner demons.
Day in and day out, we try to rebalance our lives. When we feel like we are running too fast, tired and beaten, we try to slow down, go out and chill, or take a vacation. When vacation time is over, we often tell ourselves, âBack to reality.â Hold on, did we just go on a fake vacation? Virtual vacation perhaps? Iâm not being sarcastic. I just find it ironic.
Honestly, do we really know what the hell we are doing with our lives?
We must ask ourselves, what is good enough? Whatâs the key here? Inner peace? Happiness? Contentment? Success? Y.O.L.O. I donât know. Each one of us will have to figure out what we want to do with our lives. Have you taken the time to close your eyes and conceptualize what your dream world would be? Where would you be? What would you be doing? How about your family and friends? What kind of relationship would you have with them? If you can describe your dream world in vivid detail, lucky you! How far are you from what is real right now?
Donât expect me to have answers for you, because I really donât. This is not the book that will give you answers. But hopefully this is one that will provoke you to think. A book that will lead you to look back, learn, take responsibility, and move forward with a sense of confidence, pride, and purpose. A book that will awaken you. A book that will hopefully persuade you to let yourself be who you are.
We are truly wise if we learn from our mistakes. We are all flawed by nature and prone to doing things wrong, but when we acknowledge past mistakes, embrace correction, and resolve not to repeat them (i.e., mistakes), we improve ourselves and become better people for the future. This is the theme of CJ Lacsican's book, Let Yourself Beâimproving ourselves by introspecting on our past mistakes and correcting them as quickly as we can.
In this short book, as she journeys through her past, the author allows the inner restlessness she experienced to brim over onto the pages. As she represents you and me, she gives expression to our emotional baggage tooâfears, feelings of inadequacy, unanswered questions, effects of abuse or emotionally devastating events in the past, relationship breakdowns, etc.âthose emotions that build up inside us and pour out when we can't keep them to ourselves anymore. Why am I here? What does life expect from me? Iâm a child who doesn't have one parentâhow will that affect my future? Will it make me emotionally vulnerable (or dwarfed) in any way? What are my fears? What do I want to become? Am I a person whom life's circumstances has twisted into someone else or am I truly free, living out the life I want to? And many more!
This is a simple book of everyday wisdom but of profound relevance. The author shares the introspection of her own life's journey and how she improved herself by continuously correcting her faults. She believes that she has been able to live a vastly more satisfying and happy life by doing so. She calls upon her readers to do the same believing that they too will be able to reap the same rewards of a far more enjoyable, fulfilling, and rewarding life by following her example.
Let Yourself Be has a gentle tone. It is not judgemental or critical. It does not provoke. It attempts to persuade after discussing a problem situation and explaining why the author chose the specific response she finally did in those circumstances. I recommend it to all who are failing in life and wondering why? Let Yourself Be will help you introspect on your life and turn you into a winner by helping you discover your faults and remedying them. You'll also be treated to her beautiful, personally taken photographs of some major world locations that are included in the book.