Reinventing Yourself - Transformation Step III. (The Final Step)
Are you ready for your NEW SELF ?
“You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame; how could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?”
- F. Nietzsche
You read about the concept and differences between your First & Second nature.
You understood where the idea of Self-Reinvention comes from. You analyzed your First Nature. You created a vision in your mind of who you want to become and gave it a clear form by crafting your Avatar. A new future version of yourself.
Your Second Nature.
(In case you missed any of these steps, check them here before you read on):
1. Episode I. - Nietzsche’s Secret to Reinventing Yourself: First vs. Second Nature (Explained)
2. Episode II. - Reinventing Yourself - Step I. - Embrace Your First Nature
3. Episode III. - Reinventing Yourself - Step I. - Part Two - Social environment & Personality
4. Episode IV. - Reinventing Yourself - Step II. - The Origin
5. Episode V. - Reinventing Yourself - Step II. - The Process
6. Episode VI. - Reinventing Yourself - Step II. - The Avatar (part I.)
7. Episode VII. - Reinventing Yourself - Step II. - The Avatar (part II.)
8. Episode VIII. - Transformation - The Final Chapter
If you came to this point through all the preceding steps, I want to congratulate you.
You have tremendous patience & drive.
Also, if you have done all the creative and imaginary work and written everything down, I firmly believe you’re keen to know what’s the last step about.
What does all that work lead to, right?
It leads to your ultimate and definite Self-Transformation.
A beginning of a whole new chapter of your life.
A new world of the unknown.
A place, as scary as exciting.
Your study time is over.
It’s time to practice.
It’s time to manifest your vision.
Time to fuse all your thoughts, notes and mental pictures with your First Nature.
Time to turn an idea into a reality.
The Transformation
Transformation is the third and the last step of our Self-Reinvention journey.
It’s probably not the best way to start an article, but I have to let you down right from the beginning. The whole Transformation is gonna take longer than you think.
Far, far longer than you think.
It’s not gonna take weeks or months but YEARS.
And a complete full Self-Reinvention is usually a matter of a DECADE.
You still in?
If so, then you likely have the amount of commitment and perseverance needed to complete this gigantic task.
Let’s proceed.
The Process of Transformation - The Fusion
The Transformation is the process of leaving your Old Self (First Nature) and becoming your New Self (Second Nature). This last part of the Self-Reinvention process is the true clash of these two Selfs.
What comes out, however, isn’t one clear winner.
It’s a FUSION of both. That’s the first thing you have to realize. Many self-transformation coaches and gurus say that you can just toss your old identity and become who you want to be instantly. Without any influence of your old Self (First Nature).
While that might be theoretically true, in practice it’s almost never the way things go in real life. A computer can be completely reset and readjusted into a blank slate in a matter of a few clicks. Not so a human being.
Your old self doesn’t stop to exist the very second you’ve decided to craft your Second Nature.
It starts to die. But it takes a damn while before it takes its last breath.
Do you remember the scene from LOTR - The Fellowship of the Ring where Boromir is three Uruk-Hai’s arrows deep into death and still refuses to die and fights like a madman?
Well, your First Nature is Boromir on steroids and two mithril vests on his chest.
A stubborn, unyielding mofo.
You’ll have to fight it with all the force you have - for a long, long time.
Your First and Second Nature will confront each other over and over again.
And it won’t be neat. It will be difficult and uncomfortable.
The whole transformation process is more of a FUSION rather than a “hard reset”.
You have lived with your body and mind for whatever number of years and that can’t just be dismissed in a few seconds.
In reality your new Second Nature will mix with the old First Nature of yours.
They fuse into one. You don’t get to decide this, it’s just the nature of the Self-Reinvention process. You can choose your attitude as we talked about in THE PROCESS episode - the abrupt “Polar Opposites” or the slower, sustainable “Spectrum” method. But the nature of Transformation alone can’t be changed.
It needs time and repeated effort before any change occurs.
Lastly, you don’t want to just kill right away even if you could. If you have done the work and analyzed your first nature, then you’re most likely aware of several good character traits that you already possess and want to carry over into your Second Nature.
Realize:
Your past story and future vision will merge in one and start to form the new current YOU.
A Gentle Goodbye Kiss
Nevertheless, that’s not to say that the whole Self-Reinvention has to take on a hate-driven, violent spirit. It can, if you’re a type of person like David Goggins and that’s what works for you. But it doesn’t have to.
There is the debate in all self-improvement communities whether you should adopt the “I hate my former Self” or “A new even better version of ME” attitude. There’s a lot that could be said about that (and I probably will write about it in the future) but for now, all I say is that these are social labels. Self-improvement, mental health banners.
You can choose any attitude you want, as long as that’s what works for you.
Some people thrive on self-hate, others on self-love.
Both can be useful, you just have to know yourself very well first.
Personally, what I think to be one of the best ways to start the Transformation process is what I call “A gentle goodbye kiss”.
Not really mad, or ashamed of my First Nature, perhaps a bit disappointed, unsatisfied and slightly annoyed by it. On the other hand, I'm definitely not rejoicing in some belief that I’m already a breathing masterpiece, a king or queen, a sovereign that needs just a few adjustments to attain perfection.
No, I strive hard to see the reality. To see my First Nature for what it really is.
It’s kind of a middleground of the above described more extreme attitudes.
So although in the opening quote Nietzsche talks about “burning yourself down to the ashes” these ashes (your former Self) are precisely the material from which you arise like a Phoenix towards your new emerging Self.
One is part of the other.
Visualize your Second Nature kiss goodbye to your First Nature.
In a gentle manner, with dignity and vision of new personal heights on your mind.
ACTION - Where the Real Change happens
So where does the true clash happen? Where does the real Self-Reinvention take place?
In our ACTIONS.
In your daily dealings you’ll have a strong tendency to revert to your old habits and manners. Humans are creatures of a habit and it takes a really strong mind to break the loop you have been building for most of your life.
You’ll be trying to act out your new Avatar, but the old Self is a stubborn brat.
It’ll be creeping back in all the time. Repeating the same sentences you have heard about a million times, trying to convince you that you actually don’t need this change.
But it won’t end there. It’ll come at you from all angles. Remember your First nature is now fighting for its survival. It doesn’t want to die. It will use guilt, self-doubt, fear and even question the practicality of your decision to rebuild yourself and your self-worth alone!
It will pull off all its tricks and tactics to beat you. You’ll be asking yourself when the hell did your First Nature read The Art of War from Sun Tzu.
This inner war can become quite frustrating. You know what you want, you know what to do, but for whatever reason, you can’t really execute it. That’s why you need to remind yourself constantly that:
Self-Reinvention isn’t a battle. It’s a war.
The bottom line is that a true, complete, life-long Self-Reinvention can only happen through a constant effort to ACT OUT your Second Nature.
A daily relentless effort to embody your Avatar.
“One thing is needful.—To ‘give style’ to one’s character—a great and rare art!”
— F. Nietzsche (The Gay Science)
You gave it style first in your mind, then on a paper.
Now you take it to the town.
You present it to all your friends, family and anybody you meet from now on.
Beware. It might cost you some of them too.
It’ll feel awkward in the beginning. Very unnatural. An impostor syndrome is sure to creep in every now and then, especially in the beginning. Never mind, keep going. That’s just the First Nature playing its tricks on you, trying to survive.
All these feelings of uncertainty, fear and anxiety actually validate your decision.
They confirm that you’re going in the right direction.
Behave like your Avatar would.
Assert your new Second Nature with no shame or guilt.
Eventually, you’ll be a new person, living a new life, happy for the best decision you ever made.
Dear fellow thinker, I sincerely wish you strength, vision, and relentless fire on your Self-Reinvention journey.
Thank you for reading, and for walking this path through the entire series — if you made it this far, you're already well on your way.
Finally, I got one wish.
A wish that Nietzsche extends to anyone bold enough to live his philosophy:
“Become who you are !”
— Nietzsche (echoing Pindar)
See you soon,
Fellow thinker !
NA
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