in the bluster and rain this beautiful Christmas morning I was thinking about a couple of things during my 1:36 trail run. ONE of them I can share with you. It is my distaste for cliche. You probably already know this, but I will sing the chorus one more time, and since it is Christmas, we'll call it singing to the choir. My Top Five most damaging cliches, in the key of C.
1) IT IS WHAT IT IS. It is what it is because it ain't what it should be, therefore, as lame excuse default, it is what it is. Sadly. And please don't try to spread any Zen butter on it by thinking that it is what it is because it is what it is supposed to be. Hogwash. It is what you allow it to be what it is. Then you just name the current status, however mediocre, dangerous, slimy or slothful, as being, WHAT IT IS.
Solution: IT IS WHAT IT IS - UNTIL I DECIDE TO CHANGE IT.
2) DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF. And what, exactly, is the small stuff? Your health? Your fitness? Your ability to enjoy life? This day? This hour? This minute? I have a clue for you, THERE IS NO SMALL STUFF. It is ALL the most important stuff ever, that which is in front of you right this very instant.
Solution: SWEAT the small stuff. Dial up the temperature, heat it up, cook it, bake it, BBQ it until there is a salty lake laying beneath you. Your next run, spin, ride or swim is the most important one in your life. Make it count. SWEAT. Get after it. Small stuff is for pygmies and politicians.
3) ALL THINGS IN MODERATION. Dull. Boring. Controllable, predictable, middle-of-the road, blah. Please (I beg of you) find something that fills your sails, that excites you, that challenges and rewards you, that makes you feel alive, passionate and connected. Something you believe in with all your heart and soul. Something you would suffer to keep. Things of dreams and hopes. Desires manifest. You really want to moderate love? Understanding? Research? joy? You want to put a limit on mirth and compassion? Careful Eugene, too much happiness makes the cops look at you funny. Emotional profiling is as real as racial.
Solution: SEEK WHAT EXCITES YOUR SOUL. LOVE TO EXCESS. GO CRAZY ON PASSION. DOG-PILE ON HAPPINESS.
4) IT IS WHAT WE'VE ALWAYS DONE. If what you have always done causes pain and suffering in others simply to fulfill the capitalist model, you need a reality check. Yes I am talking to you, EXXON, BoA, Big Pharma, Big Agra, Big Health Care, Wall Street, Military-Industrial, Big Tobacco, Liquor and Firearm CEOs. I am talking to politicians everywhere, on both sides of the aisle, you need to re-invent yourselves and get out of the profit and power at any cost mentality. Further, if you are enabling these evil and greedy blood-suckers by investing in their criminal, unethical and obscene (yet totally legal) practices through stocks, GET THE FUCK OUT.
Solution: DO IT DIFFERENT. Please.
5) IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED… Remember the last time you did something perfect the first time? Right, me either. There are 'important' things in my life that I continue mucking up even after having done them a thousand times. If I gave up after one mistake, imperfection or failure I would never be able to use quixotic in a sentence again, dance when the spirit moves me, sing with abandon, flip an omelet, deliver a punch line or make love to a beautiful woman. Not to mention competing in triathlon, doing my own taxes and limiting my daily consumption of moderately priced varietals. I believe in trying, in the attempt, in the journey. I put all my eggs into a single basket and watch that basket like a hawk with binoculars. That basket is called life. And I love living it, success now or pending. Because, If at first you don't succeed….
Do what you've always done, in moderation, not sweating the small stuff because after all, it is what it is.
That should keep success at bay!
Solution: Have a very Merry Christmas. I mean that.
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