The Existential Tug-of-War
3.21.18 - Various Locations ~ 1:41 PM -9:10 PM MT
I just got out of TIPS training and despite the fact that the trainer was nice, I still think that the whole thing is a racket. That being said, it was nice to clarify the accepted Colorado truths of hospitality: that you CAN serve someone without an ID and that the police CAN lie to you to entrap you. The process was pretty painless on the whole.
I followed it up with fries and a beer at Fate Brewing (highly recommend!) and proceeded to run five miles and climb for an hour at Earth Treks—my stomach felt somewhere between a washing machine and a college party—nonetheless, I powered through and managed to enjoy my calorie-burning.
I came home to eat the leftover Blue Pan Detroit-style-pizza (I say goddamn!) and watched a leaked video of Buffalo Bills wide receiver Zay Jones who was naked, trying to jump out of a 30th floor window.
Here comes the cliché, “athletes and celebrities are people too” that everyone says in unison when things like his happen. It’s sad that things have to come to this for us to remember the humanity of eachother. I think the core takeaway of what happened with Zay is that mental health is not to be taken lightly, and that we have to be careful choosing the lens in which we see the world. Who knows the way Zay has been looking through the glass but it’s clear that he’s hit a critical breaking point. This is just a reminder that our mental health should always come first because the human mind is too powerful to be taken lightly.
We don’t even know the extent of the capability of our brains yet we press forward with technology as if we can handle the perilous unknown that we are creating. There will always be nostalgia for a simpler time but the time we find ourselves in is scarily precarious. Our psyches are bombarded with information, temptation, and subversion almost every second of every day and we’re supposed to stay sane, confident, and working towards a worthy goal in life. Not to mention that the information we’re being fed is intelligently crafted to manipulate or affect our very sensitive psyches. Thus, it’s not a mystery when public figures meltdowns like this—the pressure for the average 21st century individual is enough—without the eyes of the world judging you 24/7.
For most of us in the western world we lead relatively simple lives even though we long for more. Part of it is our culture of rampant consumerism and entertainment, but the other is that the human mind seems to long for acceptance, notoriety, and accolade. We go to school, we find a job, and we hopefully find a partner and start a family and in between all of it time passes us by. We wind up climbing into our death beds wondering where the time went watching the reel of our regrets on repeat. I think that the human mind is confused, caught somewhere between the comfort of the simple and the ambition for innovation, getting yanked back and forth day-in-and-day-out in some sort of existential tug-of-war.
At least that’s how I feel sometimes.
That’s why I focus on happiness in the now, assuring that Heather and I hash out our inner workings to the best of our abilities. Our minds can be scary places and talking to others makes our own feel less alone. Sharing intimate stories and thoughts reveals to the world that we are alike even though our insecurities tell us that we aren't. Sometimes we need to silence the thoughts in our heads to let the words come from our lips to make us remember that we all suffer and that misery loves company.
Pain is inevitable in life, but the way we process and react to it, whether we share it or lock it up can make all the difference. The lens in which we choose to view the world determines the reality before our eyes; let it be tinted with the courage to share the pain that stirs inside you: first for the benefit of yourself; and second for the benefit of mankind.
