We are like glasses of water, filled to the brim. The second we get jostled by stress, pressure, or desolation, we overflow, hit greatly by the impact of life. What pours out in the overflow is what really matters. What pours out shows you who you truly are underneath the surface. What pours out is what is in your heart.

What is at the center of our hearts may be volatile, though. All too often we place temporary things as most important at the center of lives, hoping that they will fill us. But when they don’t, we are even more starved for something that only this passing thing can give us, something that even for a moment will lull us into a false sense of comfort. In that sense, our often shallow nature is toxic as it points us away from what is good and true.

An easy example would be school. As students, we work hard for our grades, our performance, and our personal success, and while those aren’t necessarily bad, they sometimes prevent us from growing into who we are meant to be. When our glass is bumped, and life suddenly plummets, will our success save us from the fall? What will pour out of our hearts when everything goes south? We work so hard on what we are perceived to be by others, but how often do we look within to see who we truly are inside?

We choose to stake our identities in the short-term, forgetting that what will build who we are is something we must pursue past the artificial happiness. Life isn’t all about the here-and-now, in-the-moment choices we must make. Life is long and full of many new opportunities, so one mistake in this moment may not be as drastic or life-changing in the next moment. Wasting our lives by stressing and seeking temporary success is quite honestly a failure.

By failing to pour our individual passions into what we do, by failing to see where the substance is in our lives, by failing to acknowledge what’s in our hearts, we are failing ourselves in life’s journey.

So, slow down. Life isn’t a race or a game with only one winner. Taking time to reconcile with who we are and how we live our lives is essential because in a way, we can’t continue to grow and live without knowing the truth. The essence of who we are is not something we can hide, for it will shine through our imperfections and reveal our true selves.