What is life without dreams, ideas, knowledge, experience? Nothing. If we do not trascend we cannot move from where we already are, we become part of the status quo. We are just surviving to whatever life take us, we float over an endless sea that turns us and takes us adrift.
What if we swim? We can change the route and get to wherever we want to go. But, where do we want to go? That is the beginning of the trip, why swim if we don´t know where to? That is where our conviction begins to take form. Is the final causation in philosophy, the first to be made but the last one to be completed, is the why we do things. Nietzsche said: “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.“
Find your why to begin living with conviction. If we care for something, then we will take care of it, and that is what makes us vulnerable, we have to protect it and take care of it. To find our why we can also ask what is the thing I cannot live without? If all is lost, what is the only thing I have to keep on living? That is the thing that makes us keep on going, and start swimming.
But that conviction is not sufficient, we need to have some habits, we may swim but is not enough, we can go faster with good habits or virtues. This daily actions solidify as a surfing board that help us cut the wave of life in half and advance with more speed. This allows us to know us better and what we are capable of and stand straight and in balance to get to where we want to go. And that is what conviction is all about. Once you find it you can surf life and enjoy the ride.
