A Life Not Exactly Optimized...

Whether I am writing, creating art, listening to music or something else, I often come face-to-face with the reality that my life choices are not optimized for the greater world.

Maybe that sounds a bit cryptic, but it seems to point at the reality that sometimes we get to choose between being popular and being authentic. Sure, there are a few people who are blessed with falling into both groups at the same time. But they seem few and far between.

I don't happen to be one of them...

Many years ago, I heard someone remark that you can either be interesting or well liked, but seldom both.

But I am also one of those who abandoned the pursuit of popularity at a very early age. It never really made much sense to me... even though my teenage self was often told that popularity - via some kind of public visibility and endeavor - was the best way to get girls.

I didn't much buy into that, either... believing that finding yourself purely liked but not being authentically yourself was likely the road to unhappiness.

For some, I suppose that would give rise to the question of whether happiness is even a worthy pursuit. Why not success, instead? Or power and influence? I guess we all have our thing that feels most meaningful... judging by the nature of my choices, I guess happiness - or at least some form of life contentment - is top of my list.

Choices have consequences!

Perhaps one of the aspects of gaining a measure of maturity comes in the form of making peace with the consequences of our choices. If your happy place is dabbling in art, it's unlikely there will be a lot of mansions and Rolls-Royces in your world.

Several decades ago, a friend of my stepdad's pointed out that just like someone has to be in the center and perfectly average, someone also has to be the "outlier." that doesn't mean that there is something wrong with either one.

That said, our world is primarily set up to be functional for that middle and average... that's how most people can be best served by reality.

Walking a true path through life is not necessarily easy. In fact, sometimes it becomes a downright slog... which is why so many people end up living in slightly sad states of "compliance," primarily in service of getting along and feeling less like they are eternally swimming against the current.

Sometimes, it becomes very tempting to just give up and just comform to mainstream expectations...

Focusing your energy on what you have and having gratitude for that is a useful exercise.

Life is often better than we think...

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week ahead!

How about you? Do you mostly follow convention? Or do you chart your own path, independently? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2024.07.30 00:11 PDT
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