As we grow up, for some reason or another, we start to lose ourselves in some way, or we build walls around ourselves and the walls that surround us start getting higher and thicker. And this may be due to our inability to rely on other people and the fact that we are different from them. Little by little, we lose ourselves and, for some reason, emotions begin to bottle up inside us, and soon enough, those emotions get bigger and stronger. 

Some people have the ability to bottle up a lot of emotions and be quite tough. But bottling up your emotions long enough can create something that feels like you are not you anymore. Suddenly, what you called a critic becomes an enemy. So it enslaves you, and then suddenly the enemy becomes your master! But a critic is nothing more than a reflection of yourself in a mirror. All of your own shortcomings and self-perceived problems will come to light when you pay enough attention to them. However, the only way to combat this reflection is to recognize that it is truly part of who we are. And we have to try and start to love ourselves even though we don't like it that much.

In some ways, we constantly think that life is a challenge and that we can never succeed. But, in some manner, at some time in your life, you will arrive at the end of the tunnel, when you will have finally discovered yourself again. What we need to understand is that without the dark, the light has no significance. It requires the darkness to be strong.

Everyone is working in their life on what they have to work on at that stage. There will always be materialism and that kind of stuff, just as there will always be idealism and individuals striving for more idealistic aims. What we feel inside our hearts determines all we need to achieve in life. The point is, just be loyal to ourselves and accomplish what we need to do, one day at a time.  

And I believe it is easy to feel defined by our job, whether we have one or not, or whether we are not having the career success we expected. And we should remember that who we are isn’t defined by our job or achievements. In the end, it doesn't matter all that much, or at least not as much as we would imagine. If there's one thing we can believe, it's that we have intrinsic value regardless of our circumstances.