They say we’re our own worst enemy.

First off, who is this we that we always quote? I need to know.

Secondly, I think this this we has a point.

I think I am my own worst enemy.

Not on purpose of course.

—Cue random story—

When I get into songwriting mode, I usually pick up a guitar or sit at a piano and bang out some chords. Then I usually start putting together a melody while improvising some pretty random lyrics.

Most of it is usually useless nonsense however sometimes I accidentally blurt things I am not wise enough or contemplative enough to otherwise write.

Which brings me to the moral of this story – this week I accidentally blurted out the following lyrics.

For what a fool believes,
Is how a fool behaves.

—Return to original rant—

So, this is why I am my own worst enemy. Duh. Because when I believe these foolish things, I behave foolishly.

Foolish in the sense that when I believe I can’t do something, then I don’t do it. It’s not that anyone ever told me I couldn’t. It’s that I never even tried it in the first place.

Foolish in the sense that I sometimes mistake silence for disinterest and pull away, resigned by the belief that maybe I have nothing to offer.

Foolish in the sense that I don’t speak up sometimes, burdened by the belief that maybe my voice doesn’t matter.

Yes, sometimes I fight these foolish beliefs and sometimes they fight me back – until I am bruised and tired and drained enough to believe them.

Sometimes these foolish beliefs come from others.

Sometimes they come from
our cultures,
our media,
our families,
our friends.

Sometimes they come from us.

And we can’t always control them coming at us.

But we can choose whether or not we believe them.

Because, as my favourite lyricist once wrote

For what a fool believes,
Is how a fool behaves.

Image: Senselost.com

—

Are you sometimes your own Darth Vader too?