Provoked Thoughts

       Firstly this blog post was inspired by a video I watched almost four years ago. It really spoke to me and I always wanted to share the thoughts it provoked. I never really had an outlet for that. Well now I do. I'll link the video here: http://youtu.be/UJAhtRg0GMQ

       If you would like to watch go ahead. It's over some gaming footage but I promise it's not a childish video about games. It really changed my outlook on some things. But hopefully if I convey what I think accurately, the video won't even be necessary.

       Now the reason all this came up was because deer season has begun. I've never been a big deer hunter. My dad and I have usually just stuck to ducks and things but this year I got a bow. I've been giving it my best shot but no luck so far. It will happen, it's just gonna take some persistence. So I've obviously found myself outside in the woods, field or anywhere outdoors more than is even usual for me. This has given me a lot of time to think about things. Nothing really in particular. Just life in general I guess. Which probably doesn't sound that special to some. In my opinion though, if you think that. Your missing it. This time alone to think helps me through my day to day so much more than you would think it would. It's something in society that I think we are extremely lacking in. Alone time is scarce to come by nowadays and for good reason. With us connected with our phones and everything else it's had to get away at times. There is always something to check or respond to. Our lives are so busy and scattered. In the video I linked above Adam (the creator of the video) says some things that I don't think I could have ever said better. One of those being: 

"When you have an over active thought process you tend to cherish the moments when everything is just, blank."

       This whole quote literally describes how I operate at times. I'm sure others feel the same. We are always constantly thinking or worrying about something. Stupid things, most of the time it's things that won't affect you in more than a week. Yet we worry and worry. When a moment comes that all thought diminishes it's a very foreign yet nice feeling. The feeling that I'm just here being me. I'm not worried, I'm not stressed, I'm just centered. Why don't we do that more often? How come before say for a high school student like me. Before a test why do we cram 5 minutes before? Even though we know we've studied, we are prepared and we know our material. Why do we keep stressing? Why don't we just take a deep breathe and center ourselves? People nowadays find it so hard to accept the outcomes of something. You may fail a test, you might loose your job or anything else. But what's to say these things WILL happen. Why do we stress out about these things when they aren't even imminent? And if they are imminent why stress. Accept that it's gonna happen. We are so scared of failure. I know I've talked about this a bit but it's just so prevalent in our society. You know? Bad things might happen. But if things are good right now. Why think about the bad? Enjoy the good. I know that this is kind of a step towards "Nectar or Carrion" but i still think its worth talking about again.

"This is an exercise I think in taking a step back, taking a breath. Realizing that what you may think is a big deal may not be such a big deal." 

       It's so true. I also feel like we are so fixated on perfection. Whether it be in our social lives, school, or jobs. We try so hard to be perfect. Even though we know it's impossible. Yet when we fall short we beat ourselves apart. Why is that? You and I aren't perfect. We both know that. This idea of thinking it's possible to be perfect is ridiculous. This brings me to the next quote. 

"Your never going to be at a point where you are the perfect version of yourself. It's just not gonna happen. Life is definitely a process, it's never going to end, you are always going to try to do your best and you know what? Your never going to be perfect and I think that the pursuit of that perfection is more important than the perfection itself." 

       This is one of the greatest concepts I think we can grasp in life. It's not about being a perfect person. It's about trying to be a great one. As good of a person as you can possibly be. The whole idea of a perfect person doesn't make sense in my head, yet I still try to be one. If you think about it, no one likes the guy that everyone thinks is perfect. That sounds really contradicting but I seriously can't think of another way to put it. Anyways, you know why no one likes that person? Because they know it's fake. They know it's impossible. This is something that I think is even more prevalent in my generation. No one my age is proud of their flaws. Everyone is insecure about every little flaw in their entire human makeup. Me included. This is a big issue. We aren't confident. We sometimes doubt ourselves about everything little thing we do. We need to own our flaws, embrace them even. It's what makes us unique. Without flaws you and I would be identical. How weird of a though is that? Without yours and my insecurities we wouldn't be individuals. So why don't we embrace them? In my opinion it all goes back to the idea of perfection. We are told from a young age what is expected of most of us. Which is fine. But sometimes that expectation is driven a little to deep. To the point of being expected to be good at everything we do. No one intends that. A lot of the times it doesn't happen. It just depends on the person.
       So I guess I went somewhere with this. It's just some food for thought. It might apply to you or it might not. Who knows. It feels good to be writing again. Really good... Thanks for reading! Have an awesome day!

-Willis