Please bear with me as the nexus of this post is a secondhand post from Tumblr that I found on Buzzfeed, don’t judge me. OK, judge me but please read on.
The post in question pondered (it was a shower thoughts [things people think about in the shower for the uninitiated or hard of thinking] type of post) that we have little magics within our DNA or psychic makeup. For example one guy said that he crept without trying, appearing without people noticing and making them jump without trying. Someone else said that their work colleague always made the best coffee despite it coming premeasured. So, what’s our magic?
At school we’re told to continuously improve on the things we’re bad at. Sure straight As in geography is nice but getting Cs in maths and french just won’t do (I’m not bitter). But then when we get out into the wide world we hardly do anything on the stuff we’re bad at. Sure, we might have to crunch some numbers or order “Deux biers, s’il vous plaît” from time to time but by and large we stick to what we’re good at. In my book, that’s a pretty good thing. The reason it’s a good thing is because the world needs us to do that. This quote from Marianne Williamson used by Nelson Mandela in his inaugural address in 1994 is often used and hey, sometimes clichés are clichés for a reason. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.” So true, don’t you think? I like confident words like these because they’re so right it hurts and they’re so hard to argue against (another of my favourites is everything in the universe is a potato or not a potato… think about it, it’s true.).
Some people know what their purpose is. They put on a toy stethoscope age 3 and immediately know that they want to be an astronaut and go and do that, someone else sees a shuttle launch and knows that they want to work with animals. They’re the lucky few. Most of us are just trying to find our way one day at a time. The important thing is that we don’t forget ourselves in the chaos. We owe it to ourselves, everyone around us, and the planet (and even the wider universe – look at Elon Musk) to find our true calling. It might just be that you’re already doing it, great, but if you have a niggling feeling that it’s not, start working towards what is. We cannot do anything about what has been before, only what is to come. If you’re happy, truly happy, and I don’t mean in a sort of sat on the sofa eating a massive doughnut and drinking a beverage of your choice content, I mean doing work that doesn’t feel like work and changing the world. It’s really scary only if you’re not already there. That’s why most people aren’t that happy and why a lot of us use distractions – smartphones, music, arguments, alcohol, drugs etc. etc. – to keep our minds constantly occupied because it’s less painful than realising that we’re not actually doing what we should truly be doing. Remember a day is a day whether you’re 18 or 99 – 24 hours to make the most of. So, please for the good of humankind (deliberate over-dramatisation) do what you do best, do the deep work, follow your calling and don’t get distracted.
The Good Shit Sticks 