Times Of Swaziland: TWO THINGS DEFINE YOU TWO THINGS DEFINE YOU ================================================================================ By Bongani Simelane on 11/11/2017 03:13:00 What does that mean? That is the real question of life, isn’t it? ‘Who are you?’ How are you defined and how do you define yourself? It’s hard to know in the quiet times. It is only when things get rough that we really find out who we are and of what we are made. This statement singles out two specific situations for consideration. The first is how patient you can be when you have nothing. When you have nothing, you will, obviously, have quite a few needs. How patiently can you wait for that which you need? Can you, or do you get agitated and make a fuss? Most atimes we tend to be impatient when we have nothing and get too unsociable. The second situation in the statement is what your attitude is when you have everything. When you have everything, you need nothing and by extension, no one. This is a test of how you treat people when you don’t have any need to be kind or helpful. Will you be nice, or will you be an obnoxious (something)? The biggest mistake we make when we have everything is that we become too oblivious of the realities of life and think we own the world, which unfortunately is merely caused by what I call the false thrill of the moment. Why is testing yourself important? These two situations help mark the boundaries within which you reside. We have all had situations where we had a great need. That was a test of who you were at that point in time. The same for the times when we had all we needed for that moment, and in that aspect of our lives. By keeping track of how we respond in trying situations, we can better judge where we need to improve ourselves. Remember, tests, even the ones at school, aren’t there to tell you, you are a failure. They exist to test you and find out what you know. If you use tests as they were intended and measure your progress and probe for weaknesses, you can continue to grow and become better at whatever the test is measuring. What do you want to learn about yourself?