fear

 Oh boy, it has been a long time since I last wrote on here! So dang much has happened, that it's crazy! With graduation and job stuff going on right now, as well as some family that has been in less than decent health (and spending time in the hospital, as a result), things have been super crazy! Crazier than a man who's decided to drive a smart car in a crash derby!

All of these new experiences have brought me back to a place that I haven't been in a long time. I've recently been brought back to a place of true fear, in my life. However, thinking on it and trying to decipher why these fears have been brought back up has played a major part in the process of overcoming them.

Fear, as a human emotion, is natural, right? It's been around just about as long as we can remember. Since day one, essentially. Fear has helped us, in many ways, with our survival, our neurological growth, and our growth as a society. Fear is viewed by some as a force of power, which can help us push through times of strife and sorrow. However, fear is not always a good thing.

Yes, I know it sounds a bit elementary to point out that fear is bad, but that doesn't make it any less true, or any more obvious to most people. A lot of us humans let our fears control us, diminish us, and silence who we are truly meant to be. Fear is such a powerful force, that it even convinces us of its logic, sometimes. It makes us think that turning back, or taking different path, would be beneficial. It tells us that maybe trying to become whoever it is that we're meant to be would ultimately end in failure.

Fear is such a convincing liar, that we fall for its trickery and step further and further away from what's inside us. Fear turns us into hateful, ignorant, and selfish people. We hurt the ones we love with our fear, and we tear down bridges built with others when we let fear control us. It doesn't have to be this way, though.

We, as humans, have the ultimate choice in this situation. I know that I certainly find myself forgetting that, time and time again. We can choose to ignore our fear, when it's obviously irrational. We can overcome our fear by simply understanding it, and shutting it up for good. Fear can crumble at the very simple, yet so complicated choice to ignore it. It'll take some effort at first, trust me, but it will eventually become a reflex. Just try to imagine a life free of fear's poisoned words.

That life sounds rad.

Death and All His Friends

      Hello again, friends! Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while, I've been caught up in listening to Coldplay. To those of you who have ever been a passenger in my car, I am a Coldplay fanatic. I'm just in love with that band. Anyway, I've been stuck to this song from their Viva La Vida album titled "Death and All His Friends." Gloomy name, but surprisingly calming and upbeat song. There's just this one line that seems to stick with me every single time I listen to this song. 

      "Come on over, just be patient, and don't worry."

      Sounds like GREAT advice to me. But, what does it really mean? I think that it's reminding us all that life has a way of sorting things out and being alright in the end. All we need to do when things start to become rocky or unstable is keep moving with patience and faith that life (or God, or whatever you believe in) will come through and make things okay. 

      It seems to me that, no matter what is currently happening, it is hard for me to be patient with life and with others. Maybe, though, it's not so hard to become better at being patient. What's that thing everyone has said at one time or another? Patience is a virtue? Yeah, that's it! It's true, too. If you can learn patience, life will be a whole lot easier. 
      
      "But being patient is too hard when life is unfair!" 
      
      I disagree. Patience isn't agreeing with, or liking how things are going. It's rolling with the punches and just accepting that it is what it is. It seems like that would be really annoying, and that's because it is. Accepting that life is just the way it is sometimes is really angering because we, as humans, like to control how things will go for ourselves in order to be more comfortable in life. That's not shameful, either. It's in our nature to want to be safe and sound. However, it can be toxic to our patience and understanding of life. It would benefit all of us to learn that sometimes, you can't do a thing about what's happening, you just have to roll with it and have faith that you'll see it through like you always have. 

      That all sets us up for the next part of the lyric to the song. The part about not worrying. 
      
      "But, Jonah, literally everybody worries!"
      
      Yes, I know. But, worry can be smashed by two things: confidence and faith. Having faith that things will turn out for you can help bring patience and smash worry. It does require us to leap sometimes, though. That can be scary, but the worst part is that first step. Worry can also be smashed by confidence. Not just any old kind of confidence, though. The kind I'm talking about is self confidence. Truly believing that you can, and will, make it through something is a work of magic to your situation. It can change your view on your whereabouts to a whole new picture. It can even be powerful enough to carry you through your hardships. It's good stuff, Maynard. 

      To tie all of this rambling up, come on over, just be patient, and don't worry. Spoiler alert, everything turns out okay. You can get through any rough patch with a little faith, confidence, and patience. So, enjoy life and don't follow death and all his friends. You could end up somewhere you never expected.

      I truly wish you all healthy and peaceful days. Until next time, friends.

Perfection

      So, obviously the statement I made about making only one blog a month was a lie. What can I say? I'm not perfect, nor do I claim to be, unlike SOME people (I'm looking at you, Kanye). Hey... Perfection... Hmm... What is perfection? What can truly be described as "perfect" in our world? Numbers? Ideas? Foods? Days? Why don't we delve deeper into what this word "perfect" means? 

      The word "perfect" literally means, "having all the required or desired elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be." I bet if we all tried really hard, we could find something or some moment we believe to be, or had been, perfect. But, let's ask ourselves something. Can we really obtain perfection? Has life reached a point where humans can make things so outstandingly brilliant and accurate that we can finally appropriately use the word that has been misused for ages? I'll answer that question with another (because I am a turd). Is anything in our world without flaw? I truly believe that nothing in our universe is without flaw. I place emphasis on "our" because I am a religious person. That doesn't, however, mean that you, the reader, has to agree with me. I believe that every single thing on our planet, or in our known universe, has it's own personal flaw.

      If you really think about it, humans are the epitome of imperfection. We make mistakes constantly. It does not make us bad or evil, as that is our own choice. Our imperfections have actually been to our benefit. We learn from each and every one of our mistakes, and that's what makes life so beautiful. We are insured, in all of our mistakes, a chance to learn a lesson about ourselves and life.

      Now, we shall discuss whether it is possible to become society's version of perfect or not.

         No.

      It's not.

      ONWARD! 

      This idea that we have to be perfect for the people we love, or even the people we don't, is entirely too stupid for us to buy into. I mean, even animals have figured out how to do what's them without any inhibitions. I say all this with the understanding that just dropping this mentality and picking up a new one is incredibly hard, but that can be dealt with by just taking a first step (eyo). 

      To conclude all of this rambling and nonsense, you aren't perfect. Nobody is. That's not a bad thing, either. It's what causes us to love, hurt, learn, live, laugh, and even breathe (because there are such things as happy mistakes). Don't let the idea that everything about you and your life needs to be perfect keep you from what is most important: being true to yourself and what you stand for. In the end, we'll all have things about our lives that we think we could have done better if they didn't occur, but those things make us who we are because we learn from them.

      I really wish you all peaceful and healthful days. Until next time, my friends. 

The First Step

      This may not be the most orthodox way to document my life, but I thought I'd give it a try. My sister does this sort of thing frequently and I can already tell you that she's better than me, so bear with me for the first couple of entries. 

      

      As I say in my bio, I really hope to start a podcast soon. Why? I don't know. I think it may be just an overwhelming need to have my stupid, geeky thoughts projected over a medium that requires the least amount of effort to maintain. The podcast won't be the topic of this month's entry, though. The topic this month is taking the first step. The title of this whole blog is "The Journey of a Thousand Miles," and all of those journeys begin with just one step.

      

      You may be saying to yourself (or aloud, I don't know) right now, "this kid is going to make cheesy entries that are going to annoy the living turds out of me!" I assure you that this, without a doubt, is mostly true. Just recently, I thought the same thing about my life. I thought, "oh, GREAT. This is going to be super annoying and I'm going to loathe every minute of it!" Oh how wrong I was! How incredibly, positively, unsurprisingly wrong I had been to think that! Life is a beautiful thing that can sometimes throw curve balls and frustrate us. However wicked those curve balls seem, their aftermath is so easy to rebuild from. All you have to do to start is take one small step. Those steps aren't going to be the easy part, though. They'll be hard and you'll fret over them, but once the step is taken, it's smooth sailing from there on out, my friend.

      I recently took a huge first step in my life. I have started to make the long transition to becoming and adult. I applied for a job at a food market close to where I live, here in Suburbia Junction, Missouri. This may not seem like that big of a deal. I mean, it's just a small job, right? Absolutely right. However, this is no easy task for me. I've been a pretty lazy guy for a while, and most of the things I do daily are a repeat of themselves. I go to school, come home, read some of my book (if I have one), and talk to my girlfriend. While talking to my girlfriend is great, I realized that the rest of that stuff has been my life for a long while now. Almost too long. The girlfriend situation is fairly recent. Anyway, I decided that it's time for me to shake things up a bit. Yes, my parents were telling me that it was time to get a job, but I'm going to stick with the story that it was my decision. 

      I admit, this first step wasn't a very big one at all, but if you know me, I'm not one for change (I very much like my steady diet of comic books and video games). I have always feared change because it's unfamiliar to me and it forces me out of my comfort-zone. But, that's life; it's how things work. Living and doing the same thing continuously are antonymous. If you are comfortable now, and have been for a very long time, it may be time for change to come in and work itself around. That may mean letting God take care of you while you go for something you've always wanted to do, getting rid of some old habits, or just trying out some new things to reconnect you to the beautiful thing we call life that you've been missing out on. The very idea of this kind of change may have you terrified, shaking in your boots. If so, I'll let you in on a little secret: it's okay to be scared. It doesn't make you weak, or insufficient, it makes you human. It is not okay, however, to let that fear affect your decisions. Fear can keep you from taking that first step, if you let it. It can also become hatred and make it's dark and rotting home in the bottom of your heart, causing you to turn bitter towards certain things. 

      My final advice to you is to think about what scares you, then pray about it (or meditate, sing, paint, write, I don't know how you do you) and then go take that first step. Totally throw out your fears and trust that God (or whoever you worship) will guide you through the parts of the journey that seem to be shrouded in darkness and uncertainty. Most of all, though, give yourself a little credit. I mean, look at you! You're a beautiful, awesome, kind, and caring human being! What can't you do when you put forth a little effort? The answer to that is as simple as this: nothing. You can do almost ANYTHING you set your mind to.

      That's all for this entry. I really wish you all peaceful and healthful days. Until next time, friends!