"MY TRANSFORMATION INTO A MORE HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE" BY DALID, ERIC GABRIELLE S.
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“My Transformation Into a More Holistic Perspective”
As I continue to grow older, I continue to experience a whole lot of stuff as well; both awful and good. And because of this, I’ve become quite aware of the things I need to do, and the things that help me to become a more decent human being. Especially in this day and age- wherein one wrong move can get you shunned- or as we in this generation like to call it, “cancelled”, from society. One way I've tried to become a more acceptable human being is by letting others speak their mind on a certain topic or situation and respecting it. When I learned how to appreciate and respect the opinions of others, I found it to be quite insightful- considering how given a certain situation, I would have a different perspective or thought than the person who would have experienced the same thing. This is what I would like to call my own transformation from a partial perspective into a more holistic perspective.
Before we get to dwell into this partial and holistic perspective topic, I would first like to share one of my experiences, and how it led me to understand further about these perspectives. I would like to emphasize that I have never been the type to easily socialize with others. This could be considered as one of my limitations or weaknesses– and the people from my elementary days can vouch for me when I say this. Of course, I’ve grown to become more sociable and approachable since especially in this society, connections are practically everything and can get you places. Well back in elementary and early junior high school, I didn’t really care that much about the amount of friends I had, or the amount of people that liked me– as long as I got good grades, I'd be a happy camper. Well one day, around sixth or seventh grade, I was struggling profusely with a certain topic, care to guess what it was? It was math, unsurprisingly, and I genuinely had such a hard time grasping the topic that I needed to get out of my own comfort zone and ask help from those far more knowledgeable than me. This turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life, as it not only proved to be a huge limitation that I had overcome; talking to people I’m not that familiar or close with. It helped me understand the topic I was struggling with. I suddenly had an epiphany, which was that asking for help doesn’t make me weak, but it made me more aware and reduced the stress or burden I had been facing at that time. Now you might be wondering why on earth would I be talking about this experience? Well it would correlate in a way to the whole partial and holistic perspective I mentioned before.
To start, I would like to talk about my partial or my initial perspective on the experience I have mentioned above. Initially, I only viewed interactions with my classmates or peers as simply put, interactions. I never really thought that friends would be something I can achieve or even have since I just thought we were only in this classroom to learn. This was the thing that was repeatedly hammered into my brain as a child, so I kind of just stuck with it. This would then be considered as my partial point of view, or perspective on how I view relationships between peers. But after that one interaction with that person smarter than me, in my mind, I kind of just woke up from an isolating dream- in which I would have been forever alone. After that interaction, my confidence to ask more and more people for help grew, and kind of just spiked over time. And eventually, I had become the person that you see today. I had become enlightened, and finally got to see the importance of friendships, and how they are able to shape or affect you as a human person. I finally saw the bigger picture, and wasn’t just cramped in a secluded area wherein my mind was just focused on my grades. This lead me to have a more holistic mindset– as I would now consider or try new and unfamiliar things, all due to that one simple interaction where I had to overcome weakness in order to grow.
From that experience, there were some things that I did consider to be truths or at the very least believed to be true. Just like what I’ve mentioned, for the longest time I thought of nothing but getting good grades. I thought that good grades would make me a happier person and this was fabricated into my mind for so long that I just thought of it as another truth in the world that I had to accept. In the end, that was only just an opinion that was cast on to me by someone far older which I saw as true. Honestly, finding out my whole belief system that I had built from when I was kid up until that point before asking for help, had given me quite the revelation. It felt like opening my eyes for the first time, and realizing the world isn’t just revolving on how high of a score you got on a test- or how high your grades are. Rather, our world offers so much more including nature, relationships and love, and all of this can be seen if you open your eyes, and not just in the literal sense but as well as in the philosophical way.
John 8:32
"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."