It's always something....

Tired and frustrated....so it's rant time!  8)

You notice over the years that it just seems like every time you get a whoopee, it's followed up with a bummer that absorbs the whoopee. The half-empty in me gets discouraged at those times, but the half-fuller has turned that around to recognizing how bummers just slide off. It's preparedness and knowing that having what you need is the real battle. Having what you want is nice, but having what you need is life.

So am I talking about lowered expectations? Have I lost my noodle and given up to live on scraps of life? Has the wave rolled past my surfboard?

Nah.

I'm just hitting a point where I recognize some basic things about myself that keep me confident, but not complacent. Kind of a Zen-meets-smelling-the-roses thing. I can suffer nothing these days that'll take away the energy I get from doing something with my hands. There's nothing so bad going on in life that I don't still get thrilled by the light coming on for a Scout learning new life skills with my guidance. Yeah, I get to do fun personal things like romp with the righteous on crazy trips with my biker buds and I like to toss some "Hippy Disc" (frisbee golf) here and there, play guitar and you can't get welding something from nothing out of you once it's in you... but these things are diversionary. They are condiments to the actual meal.

I regard myself as intelligent with value to others. I am morally oriented. I recognize a misspent youth. I acknowledge the limitations placed on me by myself and others. I channel my inner Dylan Thomas as I "rage, rage" against my physical ailments, keeping them at bay. I am the product of a lifetime of decision making and adaptations to environments of my choosing. I have some wild and ferocious memories as a result of questionable direction. As Chris Cornell sings in Sunshower, "All you'll be you are today..."

I gotta believe Chris means that you have native abilities that you bring to every new experience. Your unique perspective born of experience and hope. Your desires based on that hope and your grittiness based on the strength of your convictions. You are as ready as you're ever gonna be to do instead of watch. Waiting for some change in yourself or circumstance? All you'll be you are today and you can't change circumstance without action....so act.

The saddest piece of misinformation I've heard in a while was a John Mayer tune about waiting for the world to change. Crap. Crap set to a catchy tune and piped to a somnambulant populace dulled into inactivity by surrogates like reality TV and social internet chat stuff. OMG.
Life is open on all lanes, no waiting. Gird your loins and join the fray. It's a ballet of interaction set to a symphony of circumstance. Daaaaaaaaaance to the muuuuusic!

If you wait for the world to change, it will not change to your benefit and you give the power in your life over to others. You caring nurturers out there (I'm in that number, too) might act under the premise that a healthy, strong YOU is more of a power for helping others than a you that is emotionally strip-mined for lesser net gain. Don't build your personal house on a foundation of sand. Get right and stay that way through the diversions and bummers. Discover the root you and nurture THAT. You gotta "keep on keepin' on" and "do your thing". Then, go build value out in that world you're better prepared for. There is beauty in personal strength. Let your whoopee ward off bummers and go get you mo' whoopee. Seek quality situations that bring value to yourself and others. Put it out there. Take the chance. Don't fear the bummers. %^&* happens.
Keep getting back up.

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