Well, of course, what everyone needs is a break. Everyone needs to chill out sometimes. Everyone needs to do something stupid once in a while.

But that is not really what is in my mind. What is in my mind is that everyone needs to have a set of principles to live by. A set of beliefs on how to live life, how to face problems, how to enjoy life, how to treat people and the world around you. Everyone also needs a motto.

Without this set of principles and beliefs, one is easily swayed off course. Especially so, principles and beliefs are what sustain a person when faced with challenges and doubts. This is probably why one is most religious when faced with hard challenges of life. Because he/she needs something to hang on to, a pillar of strength to be able to carry on and stare the challenges in the eyes.

I think as we grow up and know more of the world, we will begin to form our own opinion of the world and inside us, we begin to work on some principles that we thought is the right way to deal with the world. I remember distinctly when I was still a teenager, I have this blue notebook where I wrote down my principles and beliefs, I wrote down what kind of person I should be.

Now, is quite a different story. I rarely write down things anymore, except of course blogging here. I can’t however, write my most private thoughts in a public blog. Perhaps I should start another blue notebook. When I write, I am in my best introspective mode. It is like some sort of meditation. Now, I just think by myself and don’t write things down. But even by just thinking and after I reflect on my principles and figure out what I want in life etc. and how I should proceed to live life, I feel good and that feeling can sustain me over the long haul, until doubts prevail again, and I will have to take time off and think again.

Thinking about it now, I don’t know what I will become if I have not had this system of self-introspection and self-motivation. I may not have gone very far, I may not have walked that extra mile.