It’s not too tough to get distracted in today’s society. In fact, if you’re not, you’re probably, blind, deaf, or in your third week of a coma.
We wake up each morning with a mental list of things that need to get done, and often finish the day by collapsing into our beds while beating ourselves up for not resolving the dozen tasks we swore we’d finish a month ago. Such is life.
Navigating the outside world is pretty much like exploring a high-tech version of the carnival that used to roll into town every year when we were kids. Bright lights and seductive images flash everywhere, ridiculously unhealthy foodstuffs bombard our sense of reason, and every corner has a peddler of shiny trinkets or exciting offers they tout as absolutely necessary to raise our current mundane status to one of unbridled bliss. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice there’s just as much vomit on the ground too, but maybe a third of the sawdust.
Electronics dominate our day. You can’t get any work done without a computer screen staring back at you. You can’t manage your social circle without a cell phone. Every bar or restaurant has 13 televisions on the wall, and every business has a router pumping your body with unceasing electromagnetic radiation.
Phones are smart, cars are smart, and now homes are smart. Why you would need a refrigerator connected to the internet with bluetooth-enabled cutlery is completely fucking beyond me.
Each generation tends to scorn how spoiled, twisted, or stupid the following one becomes, and even though some of this criticism might stem from becoming old fogeys fearful of change, much of it has a base in practical observation. I’m sure many an embellishment existed in the hardship stories of walking 10 miles to school in the snow, or eating tree-bark for dessert, but the geezers have recognized the massive current shift toward a national overprotective attitude toward our youth, watching them molded into soft, fearful, and entitled simpletons, ready to be eaten alive in a overly-competitive work force that won’t be summarily giving out “A’s” just because they showed up to “class.”
Whether we were backed by a wealthy family, or struggled in the trenches of poverty, the shaping of our destinies will always come down to an intentional definition of our own fundamental character. Contrived medical conditions and past hardships might earn pity from the politically correct wet-nurses constantly trying to pamper the uninspired, slothful, and apathetic, but any human hell bent on fanning the fire burning in their belly will ultimately seek their own path, much more satisfied in their own mettle and resolve than a government cradle.
And what it always comes down to is choice.
This is the power you have to accomplish anything. Some people will tell you about luck, chance, fate, and destiny. They’re usually the ones sitting in front of a television saying life isn’t fair.
The humans living out their dreams say things like:
“You are the only problem you will ever have, and you are the only solution. Change is inevitable, but personal growth is always a personal decision.”
That was from Bob Proctor. Say what you will about motivational coaches and success gurus, but Bobby lays it out pretty simple sometimes. Look him up.
Another charismatic clown is Jimmy Rohn. Again, straightforward talk. Sometimes one sentence can turn your entire life around, but only if you choose to follow through with the words that ring true to you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9v9tIMh5CQ
Believing you have no choice in certain situations is complete fallacy. There is nothing you have to do. You do not have to pay a hydro bill, you do it because you’ve made a specific choice on a lifestyle and environment. Many fine humans have existed on this planet without heat or electricity. You don’t have to work a job you hate. You do it because you enjoy receiving bi-weekly cheques to support your trendy furniture and boot buying addictions.
Let me make this distinction clear. When we say we have to do certain things, what we are really saying is we won’t be fond of the results of not doing them. That’s some lame-ass motivation. The greater inspirer to action would be to focus on what we want to do. If having an apartment and paying rent is part of your bigger dream, it’s no longer a have to, it’s a want to.
Perhaps we should back-pedal here for a second. For those of you out there not quite sure what path to walk down – what road will bring you ultimate joy – take a moment to realize that in order to get anything done, you have to make a decision. A pretty obvious statement, but nothing’s ever gonna happen in your life without that first step. Whether it’s scooping kitty litter or building a ladder to the moon, until you decide specifically what you want to make happen, and take action toward it, you’ll find yourself back in front of that mindless screen watching more Blossom reruns, saying to yourself, “I guess my dream just wasn’t meant to be.”
I spent today running around being a good guy, and helping other people in their personal quests, but as daylight fizzled to dark, I realized I hadn’t done much in moving my own dreams forward. I said to myself I would get a new post written today, though nothing particularly inspirational was pushing me to write. Instead of saying fuck it, and going to bed, I typed a few words out to see what would find me. Then a few more. And now it’s stupidly late, but I’m fully immersed in my game again, thoughts of sleep nowhere near.
Sometimes, when you don’t know what to do, you just have to do. I wrote the title of this piece earlier as an emulation of the circus theme song, but I think it’s even more fitting now.
Yeah, life is hectic and frazzling and fucked up most of the time. Maybe you’re not going to eat up everything you piled on your plate today, but it’s a good feeling going to bed knowing that the biggest bites you took were from your favourite dish, an original recipe you’ll never stop tweaking and perfecting.
So sleep well my friends, and dream even bigger tomorrow.