In order to understand the trappings of life, you have to keep living.
You might not make it to understanding any of it, but if you don’t take at least some care of yourself and die before your time, you won’t ever know if it at all made any sense in the end.
Did I just say the reason to live is so you can figure out what it is you’re actually here for?
No. But I may have intimated at it.
Nobody ever figures out life completely. Knowing this doesn’t stop anyone from actually trying to be the first to do so, however.
It’s like the perfect chili–I know, I know… Skelley is comparing chili with something as complicated as life.
But life is pretty simple if at least in the relative beginning of yours, you can sort through what’s truly important (to you) and what isn’t. I wasn’t always able to do so as some of what I thought was indispensable ended up being merely an illusion.
Additionally, some of the things I thought were important early on in my life are nowhere to be found regarding what’s going on now. Along the way, I also figured out that success is not about how much money you can accumulate before you’re 30 years of age. If I ever became a millionaire (sorry a million bucks will never be chump change and always a lot of money to me), I’d want to do so in my 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and beyond as I figure I’ll need it most during these periods.
If lots of money at an early age signifies success, I’ve been completely and utterly unsuccessful. This is a kind of tough pill to swallow, but it does afford insight into my life perspective on money: It’s something I made just enough of to exchange for food, rent and clothing.
This kind of thinking can occur when an individual has spent more time behind them than what they have moving ahead. It’s a perspective all its own of sorts. And it’s the kind of introspective viewing that hopefully suggests less hustle and bustle and the comfort of life ahead in the slow(er) lane.
If you really want to be negative you can adopt the following take on life and be miserable to your dying days: Absolutely nothing is really important. Nor is success of consequence. And what anyone thinks of you shouldn’t be something that you give any thought to.
But you know what?
You can be the most confident person in the world and still require the affirmation of someone or somebody you respect and admire.
That is what I call the life method of scale. You can at least partially figure out where you stand in the world by soliciting feedback from folks.
A lot of employers offer the chance to do just this. But, as confident as I think I am, I remain unwilling to solicit others’ opinions of me; I cannot decide in free will to do so.
It’s like a celebrity agreeing to an interview in a magazine whose heyday has long since come and gone. And then finding out the writer has done a hit job on them. You know the celeb is bruised, battered, exhausted at the thought of someone else reading of their shortcomings. They insist it’s not about the story nor the money. But it’s always at least somewhat about both–truth be told.
What if you could control the exposure of such a critique? Would you be more inclined to ask for feedback at work from one of your peers if you can be assured the privacy and confidentiality of the people in the know regarding the feedback, is limited to just you, a fellow team member and perhaps the manager?
I believe people would be more inclined to receive this kind of feedback. Perhaps I would too.
In the interim, the measure of my success and successes is who I have helped today and the nature of the assistance I’ve extended them.
You know you’re getting up in age when you go to bed relatively healthy and wake up injured.
You also know you’ve matured and grown wise when simply being helpful equates to success (in your eyes).
Picture the ability to live to 5,000 years of age as commonplace effective today.
Can you say you are proud of the number of situations, people, animals and other things you’ve helped to make better up to this point?
If not, you better get cracking. Life might not be so short.
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