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I always talk about how you should embrace your inner sloth and be lazy. And one might assume that means you don’t accomplish anything and life and wind up a big fat loser who does nothing but sit on the couch all day. There’s a difference though. There’s a fine line between being lazy and being unmotivated. See whereas being unmotivated means you aren’t willing to budge at all. Being lazy means you will move….just very, very slowly. Being unmotivated means you’ll never get it done. Being lazy means you’ll get it done EVENTUALLY. Laziness is about practicality. It’s about fueling innovation. It’s about minimizing effort and maximizing results, a phrase I say all the time, but seriously to be lazy is to have the ability to get things done efficiently, not worry, and take things slow. We’re gonna take a look at today what laziness is compared to unmotivation and perhaps how to “motivate” yourself to be lazy. And without further ado, let’s dive…right into it.  Not Getting Shit Done is NOT Being Lazy That’s right. Contrary to popular belief, if you are lazy, you do get shit done. You just sort of…take your time to make it happen. Slow n’ steady. A lazy person values quality over punctuality. It’s as simple as that. While it may not get done by the due date or expected time or whatever, it will get done..EVENTUALLY. Being unmotivated, on the other hand, means you never get shit done. Not tomorrow. Not later. Never. While unmotivated, you put it off and put it off that thing you need to get done or goal you wish to complete, not because you have the intention of getting it done at all but because you simply don’t have the willpower to make it actually happen. You make excuses for yourself. You “wind up” doing shit you didn’t plan on doing, like watching Netflix instead of writing up that paper. Look man, if you wanna watch Netflix instead of write that paper (or whatever project or task you’ve been putting off) that’s totally cool. What’s not cool though is doing it unwillingly. You don’t lie around on the couch because you WANT to, you do it because you can’t control yourself. What I’m getting at here, and again another phrase I like to repeat at times is that you must PROCRASTINATE WITH PURPOSE.  Put off things with intention. Wait ‘til later with some sort of determination to do so. Not because you can’t find it in yourself to actually do it. That’s not being lazy. That’s being unmotivated. If you’re sittin’ around doing nothing when you actually want to be getting things done instead of doing that, uhhh hello? You’re not lazy, you’re just fucking unmotivated as shit. I know I put things bluntly here. But seriously, man, get a grip. You need to stop calling yourself lazy and admit you don’t have the inner-motivation to do things. But that’s okay. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, right? And I’m here to help. Why? Well because I was in your shoes! I was that unmotivated bastard who easily got called “lazy” because you know what? I simply would not get shit done. But I realized. I realized “Hey, you know what? I’m gonna still get shit done, but I’m gonna find an easy way to do it and I’m gonna take my time to do it too!” And that’s sort of the mindset you want to adopt here. In a word “Eventually” Eventually you’ll get there. Eventually you’ll make it happen. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But eventually. And I don’t mean to just say that word. I don’t mean to use “eventually” or “later” as some sort of an excuse to get out doing it at all. I mean it. Eventually. Make it happen at some point. When? Who cares! But make it fucking happen, you hear!? Damn! I’m telling ya, you don’t have to “get up off your lazy ass”. You just have to stop discouraging yourself from actually doing it -- that goal you’ve been putting off for months, maybe even years. Stop the self-talk of “I don’t know if I really can” and start thinking “I will eventually”. And MEAN IT!  Feeling like a Loser does NOT make you Lazy Being lazy is for fucking winners. Winners are lazy people. I’m telling you. Look at all the billionaires. Are they the ones schlepping 9 to 5? Are they the ones working the coal mines? Are they the ones grinding their freaking asses off? Hell to the no. You know what they’re doing? Sittin’ on their damn fancy yacht sippin cold cocktails. Yeah. That’s about as lazy as you can get. You see though, they get other people to do the work for them. They get their money to do the work for them. You have to believe this. You really have to believe that if you can’t personally make it happen, you can find and lead people who are capable and willing. You’re just one person. And even if you were the most diligent human being on earth, you’d still be limited to what one single individual can accomplish alone. Big things happen with big groups of people. That’s how the people at the top did it, sittin’ back n tellin’ people what they want done. They did it. So can you. And you may think “Oh well I’m not really good with people.” See what you’re doing dude? That ain’t lazy. That ain’t shy. That’s just some sort of self esteem issue. You have to stop giving a FUCK about what other people think of you. That’s really the core of the issue here. You’re too self conscious about other people’s opinions. Who cares what they think! That’s just like, their opinion man. You have to be willing to hear disagreement and face rejection. It really ain’t a big deal. Stop making it out to be one. And I ain’t sayin you have to be this highly charismatic playboy or whatever. You just gotta know some social basics. I recommend listening to radio. Just listen. You’ll naturally catch on to a good flow of conversation and how to have one. And that’s really all leadership is -- having conversation with people, relating to them, and being able to suggest what will get done and how. You’re demanding about it. You’re not a rude belligerent boss. You’re just laid back, calm, and respectful. Calm. That’s kind of the key to handling social situations. Just relax, dude. The only reason you may be experiencing any sort of social anxiety is because you’re not being present. You’re in your own head. You’re thinking about what other people are thinking of you, how you look, how you sound. Quit yo worryin, boss. Take a deep breath and lead people like a boss. You are a boss. You’re a winner. Let that idea sink in your head. It’ll help you relax, when your nerves are feeling on edge about approaching people.  Saying to Yourself “Can’t or Won’t Does NOT Make You Lazy
Again, dude, that’s called being unmotivated. “Can’t” or “Won’t” are not part of procrastin8r’s dictionary. You gotta cut those sort of negative words out of your life. Seriously, forget ‘em. I can’t do this. I won’t do that. Stop. You need to chill. Nothing’s a big deal. Everything can be done one little step at a time. Everything can be done eventually. Look man, I know sometimes things get hard. Things don’t always go your way and it makes it difficult to even try. Trying is part of the lazy process. Try. You know what that means, don’t you? It means putting in a half assed effort .After all, half ass is better than no ass, am I right? Take your time. Slow n’ steady. But never say never. You can’t say can’t. And you won’t say won’t. Capeesh? Wrapping Up: Alright. I think we covered enough here today, and I hope you have a better understanding on the differences between being unmotivated and being lazy. And hey, you were at least motivated enough to read up until this point, so that’s saying something. Just remember, that the next time you’re feeling that aching feeling of not being able to do something that it’s all good. You can do it. Just take your time and make do…eventually! Take it easy, N8
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There’s this idea that you should always be absolutely 100% happy all of the time. “Stay positive. Stay upbeat. Keep a cheerful spirit.” is what we’re told. And granted, it’s no good to be down on yourself all the time and mourn over your losses of the past in an unceasing perpetual mental loop of a negative thinking mode. But this idea that you have to be totally elated and joyful is a bit…unrealistic, to say the least. It doesn’t matter how easy squeezy lemon squeezy life may get, fact of the matter is…  Life straight up sucks sometimes! And to say you should wear a cheerful smile at your grandma’s funeral or jump for joy when you find out your best friend is in the hospital after being in a car accident is absolute garbage. It’s hog wash. Look, you don’t have to be happy all the time. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for looking at the bright side of life (cue Monty Python), but there’s no denying that shit just sucks sometimes and it’s okay to get mad, upset, sad, or even angry at times. That’s part of life. Going through the range of emotions. There’s no sense being blissfully oblivious to the traumatic events in your life, just because you set yourself under the false notion that you MUST be happy at all times. Always. Man, cry once in a while. Shout out in an angry rant on occasion. Live those emotions. Feel them. Besides, forcing yourself to stay happy during some sort of crisis will only lead you to repress those negative emotions, and trust me, repressed emotions are a lot less tame than just plain old regular emotions. When you hold back your emotions, when you let them bottle up inside, you’re only feeding the beast that’ll rampage in an uncontrollable emotional outburst later down the line. You have to allow yourself to feel the emotions you are feeling in the moment and not try to hide them away behind some sort of smiley mask. Your emotions are completely valid…and you have to believe that. You have to.  You can put rose petals on a pile of shit, but at the end of the day, it’s still a pile of shit. That is to say, it doesn’t matter how much you dress up something or try to make it look pretty, if at its core it’s shit! When life sucks, it sucks, and there’s no amount of “positive outlook” that can make the shit look pretty. Now I don’t mean to sound like some sort of Debbie downer or whatever. I ain’t trying to look pessimistic, if it’s coming across that way. I just want to point out that it’s OKAY not to feel fully and completely 100% happy during 100% of the time. That said, I’d like to expand upon that. Because while it’s okay not to always be happy. It’s NOT okay to perpetually be UNhappy either. Where the line is drawn is when you hold on to that negativity, when you continue to lament and worry about the bad things that happened to you in your life. Before we do a little talk about worrying though, I want to first clarify a few points about this whole “live your emotions and feel them” thing. Let’s get to it!  Reflect and Respond. Don’t React. As I mentioned, your emotions are valid. But…and that’s a huge BUT…while your emotions are in fact valid, your emotions do NOT validate wrongful or hurtful actions. While what you’re feeling is okay, that does not make it okay to hurt yourself or others. It’s not okay to insult someone in anger. It’s not okay to flat out go around being a jerk or d-bag just because you’re in a shitty mood. No. See, that’s all reaction. You’re reacting to your emotions. Your letting them control you by doing crazy things like yelling like a banshee. Feeling your emotions is one thing, but letting them loose is another. Although I did indeed state that you shouldn’t hold your emotions back, that doesn’t give you the right, that doesn’t justify unruly actions on your part. Feeling unruly does not mean you act unruly. You got it? Control your emotions, not by holding them back or pretending to wear a fake smile. But control them by being consciously aware of them and being able to express how you feel in a calm and mature manner. It’s the lazy way.  Be an adult. Not a toddler. There are a lot of Karens walking around nowadays that are really just toddlers in adult bodies, never having learned how to control their own emotions and instead making the entire rest of the world responsible for their emotions. Now that we covered what to do in an emotional trauma “in the moment”, let’s take a look at the aftermath. The aftermath of emotional trauma can in some ways be worse than the actual event itself. Mourning over the loss of a loved one or regretting your mistakes in a relationship after a break up, that sort of thing, can be more painful than the initial death or break up was in the first place. And that, my friend is why you have to realize…  Worrying only makes things worse Worrying multiplies any sort of stress or pain you may be experiencing tenfold! The more you regret, the more you lament, the more you worry and ruminate over bad things in your life or mistakes you’ve made in the past, the more pain you’re going to feel. It’s picking a scab and never letting it fully heal, essentially. What you’re doing is bringing the pain to surface and making it bleed again. Look, bad shit happens. And you know what? Sometimes it is your fault. Sometimes you fuck up. But just because you fuck up does NOT make YOU a fuck up! Being honest with yourself in the moment and saying “you know what, this sucks”, or “you know what I fucked up.” But holding on to that bitter feeling, letting it linger, letting it haunt you. Well that quite frankly is gonna wear you the fuck out. That’s what leads to depression -- constantly feeding yourself negative emotion, putting yourself in the habit of metaphorically slitting your wrists and making yourself feel pain again. The brain is a habit machine.And you can easily put it in the habit of thinking about negative thoughts if you’re not careful. But it’s okay. You have control. You can choose to move on from the traumatic past slow n’ steady by focusing on things you appreciate more so than things you distaste. You see, it’s not so much about staying positive, but about staying…stable. It’s about being okay. It’s about recognizing that things aren’t always perfect, but being able to cope with shit when shit hits the fan. It’s about balance. Besides man…  Worrying is a lot of work. It’s a hassle to put yourself under the constant burden and stress of what used to be or what could be. Repeatedly ruminating over and over again about how things “woulda, shoulda, coulda” -- that’s a lot of effort. It’s basically putting yourself through the trauma you initially experienced every single day. Why would you do that to yourself? Man, I’m telling you as a fellow procrastin8r and friend, you can’t keep holding on to shit. Flush shit down the toilet. Don’t let it sit in the bowl forever. Man, that stinks! And that’s unsanitary af. It’s not healthy to keep shit in your life. Shit happens but you gotta flush it down and get rid of it. But seriously, let bygones be bygones. Certainly, grieve. Let yourself feel the pain. But don’t let that pain linger. Let the wound heal, dude. That takes time. But it’ll happen….Eventually.  Learn to Let Go (and go with the flow)
Eventually is the key word that can help you cope with whatever shit you’re going through or went through. Because you know what? Eventually things will get better. Eventually there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. That’s not overly eager positive thinking. That’s just reality. There are ups and downs. Life is a roller coaster. Where there are dips, there’s also great heights. That person you thought you couldn’t live without? Look at you now! Livin n’ shit! Good for you. That opportunity you let pass? Well, man think of all the opportunities you DID get for not taking it. You see, dude. You can’t live life in the past. You have to let the past be where it belongs. And where does it belong? Well, in the past of course! Fuck it! Live for today. One day, one step, at a time. Leave your worry behind and just keep moving. Slow n’ steady. Time, what a fascinating concept -- the idea that the clock is always ticking and never really winding backward, always moving forward one second at a time. It’s a theory that we, as human beings, are the only species on the entire planet earth consciously aware of it. A lion or a badger or poodle has no freaking clue what time is nor would they really care. They just, ya know, live their own little animal lives, without regards to this bizarre theory of time. Here we are though, so aware of this mathematical structure called “time” and what does it do to us? Well, it makes us for lack of a better phrase really fucking stressed. I mean, put it this way, when you think about “time”, you’re probably often thinking about how limited it is. You don’t have enough time to do this or that. You’re nearly out of time to get so and so done or accomplish such n’ such. You’re thinking about how time must be spent. After all, like money, it’s a resource. And as a resource, you have to allocate it efficiently, spend it wisely. And it’s in this “frugal” -like mindset you have over time that you begin arranging your thoughts in something along the lines of: “There’s never enough time to do all the things that I want to do.”  You’re likely to believe that. I mean look at you. You’ve got bills to pay, mouths to feed. You’ve got duties. You’ve got a real life! …to take care of. All the meanwhile you have a lot of things you WANT to do, but feel like you CAN’T do because of all the things you HAVE to do. And you’ll probably express this sentiment with a common expression that goes as follows: “I’m too busy” or “I don’t have the time” Look, man, let me make something clear to you: You HAVE the time. You do. See, the way you gotta see this is there’s TIME…. And there’s what you do with it. Capeesh? It’s real simple. There’s time and what you do with it. None of this “I don’t have it” crap! Get the fuck outta here, man! We all have time, dude. Now, unlike money, for example, as a resource, time is not something you just sort of win the birth lottery in to be born in a lot of wealth. You know, a poor man has as much time as a rich man. We all have the same 24 hours in a day and it’s not arbitrarily dependent on how much you “own”. One could argue though that time is money and that a poor man must spend a lot more time working than a rich man in order to cover just the basic necessities, while a rich man can spend more time in leisure, since his bills can easily be taken care of with his fat fucking wallet. Valid point here. I’m not gonna lie. No doubt, a rich man probably has a lot more so called “free” time than a poor man, due to the very nature of the fact that he simply doesn’t have to work very much in order to pay his bills. But man, look what I want you to get, what I want you to really grasp is that if we look at something like paying bills or showing up to work, for example -- things you supposedly “have to” do. Again, in order to make ends meet or whatever. The things is…you don’t have to do them. You DO NOT have to do any of that shit.  You don’t. You can embrace laziness and be a true procrastin8r, putting off those finicky little obligations of yours. Now you may of course say, well I don’t go to work then I can’t pay bills and if I can’t pay bills then I’ll get evicted from my home and if I get evicted my home than I’ll be living on the streets and then… Ah, yeah! You see what you’re doing. Consequences, consequences. You’re listing CONSEQUENCES. A bunch of them, at that! That’s what you’re doing. Just listing consequences. Pure. Genuine consequences When you’re saying “if I don’t do this, then that”, all you’re doing is rolling out a list of the negative repercussions of failing to do said task or action. And while there are indeed CONSEQUENCES for not showing up to work “as scheduled” or not paying your bills “on time”, the fact of the matter is you *still* don’t actually HAVE TO do those things. It’s not a matter of if you have to or not. You don’t HAVE TO do anything. It’s a matter of what consequences you’re willing to pay or put up with. Basically, we’re always choosing consequences. And I mean, for argument’s sake, the consequence of choosing to go to work instead of lie in bed all day include becoming overworked and overstressed. There’s the consequence of coming home, exhausted physically and mentally- just utterly drained. That’s definitely a consequence. That’s definitely a repercussion of your actions….or inaction, at least. See, man. You have freedom to CHOOSE what you do with your time. Again, you’re not running out of it. You have plenty of it -plenty of time-- to do the things you want to do. The same 24 hours every day. You choose what to do every single second. And yet, you CHOOSE TO prioritize these supposed obligations that you have.  There’s no such thing as obligation. You aren’t obligated to do *anything*. Obligation is just a mindset, a slavery mindset. You’ve been brainwashed to be an obedient corporate slave, who follows orders and works towards his duty without question or hesitation. You’re not too busy. You CHOOSE to be busy, man Look at the procrastin8r. What does he do? He sits at home, watching movies on Netflix or playing video games in his boxers on the couch. He doesn’t care about these duties or obligations. The concept of time and very well “wasting” it doesn’t bother him. He doesn’t give a fuck. He just does what he wants. And enjoys every second of it. He feels there’s “plenty of time”, things will get done “later. As a procrastin8r, time is no longer a series of protocols and obligations but a resource to spend with it how you want. Now before I go further on that point, I want to make it clear I’m not necessarily advocating *actually* lying in bed all day instead of going to work or doing what you’ve gotta do to pay those bills. I’m not saying DON’T do that. I’m saying don’t feel like you *have* to. There’s plenty of time to do the things, all the things that you want to. You just CHOOSE NOT to do them. You see? You’re choosing one set of consequences over the other. It’s not that you *have to* go to work, it’s not that you *need to* pay the bills. It’s that you chose to prioritize the importance of those things over say, a bit of leisure.  And remember, by prioritizing one thing, you are in turn PROCRASTINATING another.
You are always putting off one thing to do another. Even if you choose to do the productive thing, you are putting off time to rest. And putting off rest has consequences too, if you think about it. The pain in your neck from putting the burden of stress there, the irritability, the lack of energy and maybe even happiness. You must learn to Procrastinate with Purpose. Yes, that’s a phrase I say all the time. But it’s true. You must realize that you pick what to procrastinate on. You choose what to do with your time….or at the very least, you have that power within you. Maybe you’ve been following the same tired routine day in and day out, feeling like this is what you gotta do. I’ll tell you man, if you’re living that way, well I’d hate to break it to you but you aren’t even LIVING! You’re just existing. And I don’t know about you, man. But I’m here to LIVE, not exist. I’m here to enjoy my time, not worry about how I SHOULD BE spending it. Stop shoulding yourself, dude! Do what you want, not what you feel like you “should be” doing. Free yourself from the mindset that there’s all these things you SHOULD do, all these things you HAVE to do. Leave behind the corporate salve mindset and enter one of the lazy. Live a life of desire and not of obligation. It’s your time. Do what you want with it. That…is the procrastin8r way Take it easy, N8 Well fellow procrastin8r, it’s been another trip for me around the sun. This past weekend marks my 31st birthday. Woah, I know getting up there. And merry goddman birthday to me! Ya know something, turning 31 actually hit harder than turning 30. I mean turning 30 was like “shit man, I’m not young any more.” I ain’t sayin’ it’s necessarily old, but it’s definitely not so young either. It’s a weird age. Because to *most* of the adult world, I’m still quote on quote “young” but to kids, heck even in high school or college age, thirty is pretty damn old. Like I remember being just a senior in college and thinking 30 was a fucking old man. Next thing you know I’m not only thirty but IN my thirties. That’s the thing about turning 31, man. Like I am IN my thirties now and not just the big three oh. And I realize now I’m closer to someone who’s 40 than someone who’s 20. And that frankly scares the living daylights out of me. Like, I am nine years away from turning 40. And I’m thinking back, I’m thinking. Okay, nine years, that would put me at the year I graduated college, which quite honestly does NOT seem all too long ago. Seems like maybe a few months, not an entire freaking DECADE of time. Jesus. It goes by fast. I get what people are saying now when they say that.  But yeah man, maybe it’s some sort of quarter life crisis I’m having but it got me thinking -- it got me thinking, man, ya know--- life is short. I’ve heard that phrase before as much as you have I’m sure. But it never really hit me. I never really thought about it. It never really occurred to me just how really freaking short this little dance on the stage called life is. It was the type of thing I’d shove off like “oh yeah sure life is short.” But ya know, you never really think about aging. You never really truly grasp the concept of how quickly life can move. At least I know I didn’t. Not ‘til recently anyway. It just sort of happens, aging, that is, and isn’t something you consciously contemplate about. But…You reach a certain age where you actually begin to think about age. It’s not something you typically think about until you’re “old enough”. Well I suppose, that’s not completely true. There is a time, when we’re real young that age is some sort of “achievement” or bragging right. Being the “cool” older kids is what I’m talking about. You probably remember yelling in the school yard something along the lines of “I’m seven and a HALF and you’re only SEVEN.” “And a half!” Ha! Seems like once you've passed the age of twelve “and a half” you stop counting your age by halves. And then eventually once you reach a certain age in adulthood (which I’m telling you is right around thirty), what used to be a mark of passage becomes something you’d rather not mention if the topic comes up. After all, being old has a certain stigma around it in society. You can’t fat shame or bully but you can call someone a dinosaur and that’s cool.  Sounds like something an old person would complain about, am I right? I’’m not really complaining though. I’m just observing. It’s fascinating -- how old a person is can easily be the butt of jokes. Yet, it’s something we kind of all do. We all eventually get old. We all age. It’s the way life is. I mean unless you’re experiencing something like the incredible case of Benjamin Button, most of us are all getting older every day. And it’s just crazy. It’s crazy to me how really fast that this whole little aging process happens. Even though it’s not something we necessarily think about it until we hit a certain point in the process (that is, until we hit a certain age, like 30 lol). I mean here, just to paint a picture. I recently got in touch with an old neighborhood friend I used to play with as a kid, who I came across as a Facebook friend suggestion. Now guess what? HE has his own kids! I’m scrolling through and see a picture and I’m like: Wtf is that (insert name)…Well holy shit! I’ll be damned! It doesn’t seem TOO loing ago that WE were kids, running around playing man hunt n’ tag and Pokemon cards in the 90s. Btw, if you wanna feel old, tell a kid you were born in the 1900s or tell ‘em you were born before Google. It’s like, you look back at life and you begin to think “how did I get here?” I mean one day you’re eating fruit roll-ups and playing Gameboy Color as a kid, the next you’re a full grown adult paying his/her own bills, sitting in front of a computer writing a blog. Like what the fuck? Where did this time even go? Another anecdote is my cousin, my LITTLE cousin is on his way to graduate college. And I’m thinking, damn yo! I didn’t graduate college that long ago, which I previously mentioned. Yet I guess I have, in reality. Nearly a decade ago. I mean, sheesh. What I’m really getting at here, and I suppose this is a round-about way of saying this, but aging is inevitable and you’ve gotta appreciate your time here in life while you have No anti-wrinkle cream or plastic surgery can prevent you from aging. That’s what we call the “denial stage” of grief. You’re totally denying the fact that you’re aging by trying to hide it behind plastic or cosmetics. It’s just a mask, a false disguise. Face it, you’re getting old. But that’s okay. The disease of age eventually kills us all. A morbid thought, perhaps, but you can be the healthiest person -- eat the right diet, exercise on a daily basis, and otherwise live a rather fit, active life complete with a well-balanced nutrition and still succumb to the inevitable death sentence of being too freaking old to live any longer. “Memento Mori” is a phrase the stoics say meaning “remember death”. Now at first glance, that sounds like a rather dark thought. No one likes to think of aging, yet alone death, but the two kind of go hand in hand. The point is, though, not to worry about death but to know that this day could very well be your last. Or at least will be at some point. Death is always lurking around the corner and we’re all sort of marked by the ever-ticking death clock. It’s inevitable that we all die. None of make it out of here alive, anyway! That’s not to say it’s a “doom” clock in any sort of way or to suggest that it’s something to fear. The whole premise behind the phrase “Memento Mori” is to REMEMBER. Remember that you die and live life as if this could be it, this could be the time of your death. It puts things in perspective. Ya know, it really gets you thinking “This moment, this experience I’m having right now” won’t last forever. And that gives you motivation to cherish it, cherish the moments that make up your day, hold true to the memories that make up your life. As you age and grow, you sort of just go through the motions. One day you're playing out in the schoolyard for recess as a child, the next you’re working a “real job” as an adult. We tend to just let life pass us by. But if you adapt the mindset of “Memento Mori”, life becomes a whole lot more enjoyable and that little process of “aging” becomes an opportunity to learn and grow, rather than look at with distaste.  Take life slow. Take it one breath at a time, one moment at a time. Really bask in the beauty of it all. Otherwise, you’ll be sittin’ there all grouchy in wrinkles thinking to yourself “How in the hell did I get this old?” I think one of the reasons there IS such a stigma against aging and old people is because I think our collective consciousness is aware of the fact that we AREN’T aware of just how swiftly the pace of life moves. We’re completely oblivious to what’s happening around us until we look back with nostalgia in our eye and say “Man, I miss the good ole days. I miss benign a kid. I miss being in college. I miss dating so n’ so. I miss spending time with whats her face.” The good ole days, the good ole days. Man, the good ole days wasn’t THEN…it’s NOW.  TODAY is your good ole day. Today is the day to remember. They say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone (cue Big Yellow Taxi). It’s silly how the brain works. We hold higher value on “what used to be” than what is, or at least we tend to anyway. Be lazy. Move through the journey, the journey of life, one step at a time. Appreciate life in the moment. Ya know as kids we’re all looking forward to the day we all “grow up.” Then once we grow up we realize, shit, I’m just a kid in an adult body. I don’t know what I’m doing. You think that adults know everything about adulting. That there’s this secret tome of knowledge bestowed upon you or something when you reach the age of adulthood. But then you…actually become an adult and you realize. You realize that no one actually knows what in the FUCK they are doing. And we’re all just sort of….improvising. We’re just making up shit as we go along. That’s the secret no one tells you as a kid. That seriously, no one knows what in the HELL they are doing here. All this adulting stuff -- finding a place to live, paying bills, taking out loans, investing for retirement. Yeah that’s not something you just “magically” start knowing come a certain age. That’s something you gotta figure out for yourself. No one teaches you. Just here kid, go tackle the world! And it’s true, we’re all just kids in adult bodies, exploring the big world and trying to figure out what to do. And I don’t really think any of us get it right. We’re just trying to make do and do what’s best for us. Anyway, once you realize that the whole idea of this “adult world” is arbitrary bullshit and there’s nothing that age itself teaches you, you’ve come to the point now, where you can begging learning and experiencing on your own. The world isn’t just going to hand you knowledge and wisdom. You gotta find that for yourself, man.  The only difference between being a kid and being an adult is that you have to parent yourself. You have to be your own “mom” or “dad” telling you “No, don’t eat ice cream for dinner at 3 in the morning.” I mean, what’s stopping you? Who’s stopping you? You’re the adult. You get to make the decisions here. It’s fascinating. Your whole life decisions were basically made for you and now you get to make your own decisions. Even if they’re bad ones, YOU’RE responsible for them. You can’t blame it on your mother or father. Look man getting older doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting wiser. It just means you’ve took more trips around the sun. Sometimes you gotta sit back n’ reflect on all of this, ya know. You gotta really look at your life and how this all comes together. And of course, remember that you die. Don’t be sittin there as an old man or woman looking back at the times of yesteryear, wishing things haven’t changed. You’re going to change. The people you know are going to change. Things are going to change. Appreciate the process. Look, one day I’m gonna be old. Well, at least a helluva lot older than I am now. And so are you. You can either let all this life pass you by and look back with some sort of regret or nostalgia, deeply longing for the past. Or you can take the lazy path and be in the present TODAY. Be appreciative about what’s happening RIGHT NOW. Don’t rush life on by. Take it one. Step. at. A. Time. I mean already, you know one day you’re going to look back to today, as in the current circumstances in your life right now, and deeply desire to have kept it -- the relationships you have, the places you get to visit, and all the moments that happen. You already do that now. There are moments you look back upon, wishing you had knew it was the good ole days before the good ole days were over. They’re not over. They’re happening right now as we speak.  Seriously, every single day is an opportunity to actually freaking LIVE. Not just go through the motions or ride on by, but live, actually live. Take it nice n’ slow, man. Abide, dude! And don’t let age bring you down. We all do it. Especially when there’s such a stigma against aging -- all this anti-aging creams and pills you can take. Look at it this way, if you choose to live your life, as in actually consciously be aware of what’s happening and find the little things to appreciate, then the older you get, the more you have to appreciate. Embrace getting old. Love it! My mom is literally at the age where she’s the “old lady” that young kids help cross the street. She told me how quite literally a boy asked if she needed help crossing the street. Now at first, she admitted she felt insulted, like “Am I really that age? Do I really look that old?” But then she decided to embrace it. She calls it a “perk” of getting old. Like no one looks at you or cares if you make it across the street or not, until I suppose you reach that old age, where people are willing to hold your hand. Well then again, the same happens when your a tiny kid, with your parents or nanny holding your hand to cross the street. But from like twelve onwards, you’re on your own, kid! Crossing the street, that’s a metaphor. No one helps you face challenges or dodge obstacles, like moving vehicles. You’ve gotta navigate the streets of life yourself. But come a certain age and people are willing to lend out a helping hand. So yeah, there are “perks” to getting old. Don’t fear it or worry about it. Don’t worry is the lazy mantra, anyways. Embrace it. Love it. Enjoy it. Abide. Everyone says that life seems to go by so fast, that the days keep comin’. And the older you get, the more this rings true.  Like as a kid time goes by so slow. Time goes by SO slow! And well, to be quite frank it makes sense. I mean it’s simply a matter of basic mathematics and fractions. Like one year to a seven year old is proportionally a lot more of his life than say, a 40 year old. One out of seven is a much bigger number than one out of 40, for example. But also as a kid, you tend to live life so freely. You’re not worried about the bills to pay or workload to complete. Like what are you worried about as a kid? Maybe scraping your knee and having a boo boo? We stress ourselves out with a plethora of things as an adult and the only reason we see the days of our youth as “the good ole days” was because that was the time we were actually LIVING. We weren’t stressing ourselves out. We were just being a kid. Enjoying kid stuff. Now, go out there and enjoy adult stuff.  Wait what? Ha!
You know it’s funny whenever we hear the phrase “adult stuff” we either think of something dirty or of something boring. Are you kidding me? You can do all the stuff you love as a kid. And guess what? No curfew. No boundaries. You’re free to do what you want. You’re free to abide. You’re free to…well, for lack of a better word…LIVE! And perhaps you tell yourself “Oh no, I got this aching back. I can’t play baseball anymore” or whatever. Are you really or are you just telling yourself that? And hey, maybe you have reached the age where you’re physically incapable of doing some of the things that you enjoy. But hey, you enjoy relaxing, right? An old body appreciates lying down more than anything. And a LAZY old body? Well, that’s just euphoria! The point I’m trying to make here is that aging is inevitable. Dying is inevitable. But just because you die one day doesn’t mean you have to be dead before you’re dug in a grave. Take it easy, N8 |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
March 2022
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