a true late night ramble
Is life really a blur? It seems that life offers a reluctance to move at a leisurely pace, for little gets accomplished when one stops to smell the roses. Simple pleasures may be only that for they don't press us with the layered confrontation life presents. It's constricting, confining, suffocating at times; to attempt to explore every avenue of one's curiosity. Cliched statements run from our mouths: "there aren't enough hours in the day." All that I truly consider accomplishments even on a professional level occur beyond the realm of my workplace. Sure, there are gratifying moments in an occupational environment, but specific to my purpose at this point in my life is the work I do beyond the walls and campus lines of the sports monstrosity that exists within Bristol, CT. Is this what college has prepared me for? Communication colleges need to add a new course to their curriculum, mainly that of self-promotion. In many fields, this characteristic emerges predominantly as that "go-getter" mentality that allows you to succeed. Some call it pushy, some prefer ther term aggressive. It's certainly difficult to fault success that's attained when such characteristics are applied to their particular line of work.
So I think it is my belief that we search within our occupations to find something that appeals to these simple pleasures. And to those who preach that money isn't everything, I won't argue with you, but it sure does help probably 90% of what people consider a comfortable lifestyle. With money, people afford leisure, it's a luxury you pay for, which seems ridiculous. Sure, a capitalistic society commands a earn your way to become successful type plan for operating your life, but the enjoyment of something that is pretty much the antithesis of the way we carry out our professional lives can only be attained by our professional lives. A bizarre conundrum. I suppose that's the nature of the beast and a skewed perspective from this particular individual.
Nevertheless, we can draw from these characteristics we are engaged to portray. They cause us to look at ourselves in a different light, perhaps a truer one than we originally perceived. Since this is my livejournal, I'll be the guinea pig. My perfectionist/competitive attitude that wants me to be seen as successful and having achieved something unfortunately causes me to never be completely satisfied with what I do and looking for reassurance. This is nowhere near as bad as it was say in high school, but the principles have been ground in to my head for whatever reason. In most cases, it's not a bad thing; it gives me great determination and ambition. What I question is the stress and/or guilt I can develop when not carrying out every possible extention of my overall "plan" for my career, my social life, my life in general.
All this analyzation brings up another possible conclusion. Perhaps THIS is why we never "stop to smell the roses." We'd much rather travel at a breakneck pace knowing our list of "to do" things than sit back and realize we may be more fucked up than we think. The blur is more comfortable, if things whiz by, they're less likely to confront us, and if things are whizzing, we're less likely to stop and confront ourselves.
(Randall P's note: If this doesn't make sense or seem to make a point, don't worry, it's just me getting my thoughts down. My mind is a twisted, bizarre place, and half the time even I don't know what it's doing.)
So I think it is my belief that we search within our occupations to find something that appeals to these simple pleasures. And to those who preach that money isn't everything, I won't argue with you, but it sure does help probably 90% of what people consider a comfortable lifestyle. With money, people afford leisure, it's a luxury you pay for, which seems ridiculous. Sure, a capitalistic society commands a earn your way to become successful type plan for operating your life, but the enjoyment of something that is pretty much the antithesis of the way we carry out our professional lives can only be attained by our professional lives. A bizarre conundrum. I suppose that's the nature of the beast and a skewed perspective from this particular individual.
Nevertheless, we can draw from these characteristics we are engaged to portray. They cause us to look at ourselves in a different light, perhaps a truer one than we originally perceived. Since this is my livejournal, I'll be the guinea pig. My perfectionist/competitive attitude that wants me to be seen as successful and having achieved something unfortunately causes me to never be completely satisfied with what I do and looking for reassurance. This is nowhere near as bad as it was say in high school, but the principles have been ground in to my head for whatever reason. In most cases, it's not a bad thing; it gives me great determination and ambition. What I question is the stress and/or guilt I can develop when not carrying out every possible extention of my overall "plan" for my career, my social life, my life in general.
All this analyzation brings up another possible conclusion. Perhaps THIS is why we never "stop to smell the roses." We'd much rather travel at a breakneck pace knowing our list of "to do" things than sit back and realize we may be more fucked up than we think. The blur is more comfortable, if things whiz by, they're less likely to confront us, and if things are whizzing, we're less likely to stop and confront ourselves.
(Randall P's note: If this doesn't make sense or seem to make a point, don't worry, it's just me getting my thoughts down. My mind is a twisted, bizarre place, and half the time even I don't know what it's doing.)