Two things on my mind.
Well no, that's not exactly true. Not just two, more like a million. Small and incessant and sometimes really annoying, but many incredible too.
But the 2 things I wanted to mention in this brief post (because yes, this one will be brief, there have been so many long ones that went before) – continuity and brave guys.
I was thinking the other day about people, about foolish people, to be honest, about missing chances. About not doing what you're supposed to be doing, just going along some different path that may prove very wrong. Your life right now, whether you're six or sixty is full of roads not taken. Do you ever stop to think about that? How different your life would be if you'd made a different choice (or ten)? Of course not, are you insane? You'd go mad if you got stuck thinking of all the possible lives you might've had.
Truth is, the only one that matters is the one you have now. And here come into play the choices that you make in your life. Good, bad, dangerous, brilliant, foolish, they're all going to be with you for the long run. I would say 'so you better think them through' but I know you won't. Nobody thinks everything through and everybody makes bad decisions. But we try. We hope that somehow, we can be just careful enough to get it right. We try not to miss out, not to get left on the margins or not get too hurt. But no one can get it just right.
So we miss out, get left on the margins and hurt. It's life.
Photo by Gene Bakner on Unsplash
I just refreshed my browser, to make it go faster, to stop whatever was slowing it down and get on with things. Afterward, it asked me which tabs I'd like to reopen. But life doesn't work that way. Nobody comes in to close unlucky tabs for you and they slow you down forever once you opened them up.
Fortune favors the brave.
But not the foolish.
I was thinking about missed chances and wrong choices – how sometimes you gamble and you might just come out fine on the other side. Because you were brave, you took a risk and fortune is supposed to like that sort of thing. But that's not always the case. You expect to make it, but what if you don't?
There will be no allowances for your bad judgment. No second chances. Sometimes you jump off a cliff and land in the water, but sometimes you break your legs. Or worse.
Contrary to popular belief, fortune does not favor the brave. It doesn't have time to do that because it's too busy rolling the dice. You might be fine, but then again, you might not. Because it's a gamble. A luck-based game and regardless what Fortune's personal opinion of you is, it won't affect the outcome.
You may wish to win, but it all really depends on the roll of a dice. The dice doesn't care if you want to win.
So, you have to set up a strategy. In life, you can think ahead, make sure you don't put yourself in risky situations, where the outcome of the dice roll might actually fuck you up. You look for continuity, an on-going script that will keep you from falling.
Photo by Max Felner on Unsplash
While some situations do not depend on you, many do, you have the power to cut unnecessary costs and risks and it all depends on how you think, on how careful you are.
Nobody likes being in an unfortunate situation and of course, when you're down on your luck, nobody will come pointing fingers, because that's the last thing you need. But the truth is a lot of the bad, hurtful situations you are in come as a result of your own actions. And this is where the brave are set apart from the foolish.
You will miss out, you will choose to ignore opportunities, for the sake of tradition, parties, distraction etc. You will take risks based on momentary pleasure and then, you might find yourself in fucked-up situations that could've easily been avoided. That's foolish.
Then, you might decide to risk it all on an idea you have in your head. You might choose to ignore the dogs lapping at your soul and run with it, chance it and see if they catch you or no. Seems to me the best example here is love. Suffering in love is the most worthwhile suffering there is, I think. I was just talking about this to someone – that you might get hurt if you let yourself love someone. Well yeah, that's the risk you have to take here. You open your heart and someone comes in and messes all that up. But that's a good risk – you wouldn't be able to hurt if there wasn't some good, so you've gained something. You can't feel extremely good things if you don't take the chance of risking bad things as well. And that's brave.
Maybe you don't agree with these examples. Fine. Look at your life, find examples you're comfortable with. And learn the difference between foolish risk and brave risk – might save you a world of trouble.