Human are complicated animals. We are the product of an complex evolutionary history. We are bombarded with social memes and expectations our entire lives. We are the product of our parents and society and community and belief systems. And we are full of flaws.
One thing that I’m certain about, though, is that people can change. Who and what you are is not set in stone or predetermined or defined by some ultimate plan. Yes, your history can be a very good indicator of your future. If you’ve always been a horrible procrastinator, chances are you will stay that way unless you get lucky, or unless you put some effort into changing.
Of course, it’s impossible to be “perfect.” Striving to become perfect is pointless. But striving to constantly move closer and closer to being perfect (however you define it) is possible. Self-improvement, or self-help, or growth, or whaterver you want to call it, is a process, not a final destination. There are goals along the way, which are destinations, but as a whole there is no finish line.
So yes, you can improve, and the sooner you accept that and stop making excuses, the sooner it can start to happen. People will never try to change themselves unless they first realize that they can, and secondly have a reason to try.
Do you have a general desire to become stronger? Do you have something to protect? Is there a cause or an issue or an ambitious goal that drives you? If so, improving yourself will likely play a huge role in helping you accomplish what you set out to do. It is not selfish to aim for self-improvement, especially if that improvement is to help you do something like cure cancer or eliminate poverty!
Life is the present moment. What matters matters now. That’s not to say that planning isn’t important. Living only in the present and caring nothing for tomorrow isn’t the wisest if you care about ensuring you have food to eat and baisc shelter, among other things. Also, you can’t change everything about yourself overnight. Our machinery is just too complicated to do that. So you need to make plans for the future and act them out in the present.
The question, then, is what things do you want to be different and why? What things are a certain way right now that you would change right now if you could?
Write them down, figure out how to change them, make a plan, and then just fucking do it.
