We truly believe we know ourselves, and how we will react in certain situations, but we don’t, especially when we have only second-hand experiences, those experiences people go through to which we candidly say “I would never do that.” However, not until we face a similar situation do we know who we are and often surprise ourselves reacting, contrary to that we truly thought was our stance.

I’ve met people who said they would never be unfaithful and years later they find themselves down that same road they were so convinced they would never tread.

We may have an inkling on our stance on certain universal issues, but on some issues we just don’t know because it’s not until the opportunity arises that are our convictions tried, and only then can we decide what to do. We too often act on impulse, and this is normal, especially if we’ve been hurt. Reactions are always surprising and hard to foretell.

Whenever people ask what I’d do in a certain circumstance, I can only say how I “may” react, but I can’t really commit to an answer. Delicate matters are hard to tackle, no matter how much information we have on the subject.

There is nothing better when asked for advice than to say: “I may do this or that.” But never a downright short and convinced answer we may have to look back upon and say: “Boy, was I wrong.” This coming to show how little we know our true nature. We are actually mysteries to ourselves. We want, as everyone does, to define ourselves, but we can only go so far.

Knowing ourselves takes a lifetime and when we finally do, we realize we were always clueless about whom we thought we were until we went through all our personal experiences first-hand, which we now call “baggage,” and which actually are the things that define us in the end.