The courage to be disliked

Have you ever read the book “The Courage to Be Disliked”? well, even though it’s a well-known book, I’ve never read it in either English or Japanese. This morning, I watched a someone’s Youtube video where she introduced the book and summed it up briefly. It inspired me, and now I want to add it to my bookshelf. Let me share a quota.

“No experience is in itself a cause of our success or failure. We do not suffer from the shock of our experiences—the so-called trauma—but instead we make out of them whatever suits our purposes. We are not determined by our experiences, but the meaning we give them is self-determining.”

from "The Courage to Be disliked"

In my wordings, no one else can define who I am, what my worth is; I'm the subject of my life, no matter what others say. The book reminded me of the idiom "The world is your oyster". When I first heard it, I was like 'why an oyster?' But now that I'm expanding my imagination, maybe I understand why. An oyster contains glossy, gorgeous, valuable pearls inside its hard shield, I mean shell, which requires something power or tools like knifes to open. Similarly, valuable things (for us, like possibilities or opportunities) are always waiting for us, but it's up to us to carve out our paths. Hahaha, I might seem silly.

Have a wonderful day.