segunda-feira, 26 de dezembro de 2011

On Life and other things

“Life is like a box of chocolates”… can’t agree on that. Sure, among a few rows we’ll find a number of them we aren’t very fond of. But someone will like it, so we offer those gladly.

No, I prefer “Life is what happens while you were making other plans”. Because it is. You think you got it all figured out and then Bam! something happens that knocks your socks off.

You find something you did not expect. You get curious. You try to learn more. The more you learn the more you find it intriguing. You notice details, coincidences. Well, some of those are simple coincidences, but others leave you wondering. And thinking of it a lot more than you first anticipated.

Before you know it it’s under your skin. You feel it, you know it’s there and still you can’t say exactly where or why or how it got in. It makes you feel uncomfortable, not only because it’s there, but also because you have a number of questions you aren’t able to answer. It itches, it burns.
You’re divided, because part of you wants to get rid of it and the other part likes the way you have become so attached to it, even if it doesn’t understand the ifs and whys.
You realize it makes your attention wander off – or your heart beat faster. Side effects you can’t control. It gets more and more space on your mind, ‘til the point you have to get it sorted.

You feel you’ve changed somehow. Maybe you can’t pinpoint exactly what in – or maybe you can. The thing is, you’re no longer the same. You still don’t know why and it bothers you. In fact, it’s the issue itself of not knowing that bothers you the most. Itching and burning.

At some point, you have to make a decision even without all the facts: to drop the ball, cut your losses and get it out of your system… or accept that it’s there, that you like it and simply go for broke and embrace it for the duration.

It’s that choice that defines much of who we are: the way we handle the unknown. Particularly that uncomfortable feeling about the thing that got into your system. Do you ignore it and retreat to safety or go for it and see what happens? What do you value? Stability or adventure? Do you run away or open your arms to it? Do you start accounting what you may lose from the experience or simply take a gamble and whatever the outcome see the experience as a profit?

I know my answer to this.
Do you?

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