Late night drive

I went to be earlier, fell asleep, woke up a couple hours later and here we are, it is after 3 am and I can't sleep. What I generally do at times like these is write, as it works to empty out whatever is on my mind and give me a chance to reset the circuitry. It generally works and after writing for a while, I am able to get back to bed.

Like a late night drive on empty roads.

I was listening to @theycallmedan's recent stream and he told a story about early life hustling where he caught turtles in the local creek to sell to a pet store for money. This reminded me of what I used to do when I was 12 or so and started highschool, except instead of turtles, I sold condoms. Kids would buy them for 2 dollars but I would buy a packet of 12 for around 6. In a small town, kids were too embarrassed to buy them for themselves as everyone knew everyone, but I would predict that most sales were out of curiosity, not for actual usage.

Good times.

Kids are resourceful and if willing to overcome the fears of judgement, can find ways to provide for the things that are missing from life through inventive ways. I think many of the children today are going to suffer later because their life hasn't had the need to provide anything for themselves. Coddled children become spoiled adults, and even with all the possibility laid out in front of them through education and network, without an imagination and resourceful nature willing to go above and beyond, most are going to have mediocre results - which is why averages exist I guess.

Who wants to be average?

There is nothing wrong with being average, but no one should be average across the board, we should all have a specialty of some kind, an interest area that gives us a competitive advantage and therefore utility within a group. When these skills are combined through collaboration and cooperation, much larger projects can be achieved. If a society is filled with similarly skilled, like-minded people - the potential for growth is limited.

Dan also talked about Steem being at rock-bottom and how he likes these times as it forces people to become resourceful, motivated - it makes people pay attention. When one is feeling great, self-reflection often takes a backseat and therefore the shortcomings may be ignored. A heroin addict doesn't mind their life whilst high, it is only when sober will they take stock and consider reality and based on what they find, the desire to get high again may be even stronger.

I have never been much of a physical addict, but I am somewhat of a thought addict where I spend time mulling over topics in my mind time and time again, looking for new discoveries. It is like watching a favorite movie that brings new resolution and details after each sitting. Unfortunately, a lot of the thoughts I have are not favorites, nor are they entertaining, but I feel I have to spend time considering them. It is part of the reason I have had trouble sleeping over my life, and part of the reason writing on Steem helps me process so that I can move on.

I believe that unprocessed thoughts lead to mental conflicts and unrest and once acknowledged, considered and accepted, it is possible to let go and carry on with something else. It doesn't necessarily mean that those same thoughts won't come up again however, as that likely requires finding a way to get past the circumstances that created them.

For me, a lot of the thoughts I have had throughout my life have been concerned with financial position, even when I am haven't been struggling. This is likely because of that upbringing that motivated me to sell condoms to kids at school. While I lived in monetary scarcity, my mindset has never really accepted that that is the way it has to be and my behaviors have led to a myriad ways of surviving to this day using my head. I have always found ways to survive, and it hasn't been by manipulating others to provide for me. In my case, I have worked for a crust and been grateful that I have been able to always generate enough to eat.

A future of abundance is what I am after though because while I would be stoked if I am able to never have to consider my personal finances again as I do now, I think that if things I am working toward now happen, many more people in this world will have opportunity. Opportunity doesn't mean being spoiled and coddled so that all that is required is handed on a silver platter, opportunity is the chance to seize the moment and go above and beyond.

Life is a competition, hence the competitive advantages that life utilizes for evolutionary change. The strongest and even the smartest aren't necessarily the ones to survive, it is the adaptive - the environmental hustlers that can flex with change. But with so many opportunities across such a wide spectrum of areas and industries, there is a lot of room for many skills to grow. some will command a great deal of attention and give rise to new industries again, others will work off stage and make a decent living, and many more will be sitting in the audience.

The audience size is larger than the number required for the production.

However, the audience can become the actors within their own industries While I might go to a play and see actors ply their trade, I take the stage in the theater of my industry and have an audience larger than myself leverage what I have to offer. This is the marketplace dealing in the trade of skills. While I might not have something you find useful or compelling, that doesn't mean that no one else wants it.

Some people are attention seekers and want to draw attention from everyone, yet it is generally better to focus efforts on market segmentation. Those who are looking for any attention seem desperate. The internet is filled with the desperate looking for any attention and as a result, they are much more likely to sell themselves out for a little more of the heroin they seek.

We see it here when it comes to those looking for votes who will post anything if there is a reward involved without considering if it is their area, their interest, or works toward satisfying their long-term goals. Often it is these types of actions that might bring the momentary hit, but decrease the chances of future accomplishment. While adaptation is paramount, being authentic is also required to feel that what one does has meaning and purpose. If the end goal is purely financial reward, then that might tell something about the authentic purpose behind the person.

Money has been a massive focus in my life, but it has never been an end goal, just a stepping stone. Money is a tool that can be used to influence the marketplace and that is done through buying and selling. What is bought and sold and then how those things are utilized is important. Some buy an education, some invest into ideas, some sell their minds and bodies, some buy things that add no value past the consumption.

Where is the value in a hit of heroin after the comedown?

It becomes meaningless as feelings are like clouds in the sky that come and go and the only motivation is to look to capture that good feeling again. People these days put so much stress on how they feel in the moment and avoid the discomfort, that they fail to recognize that in order to get to where they want to be in other areas of their life, that discomfort is required. You want to have a healthy body, it requires feeding it well and stressing it enough to develop the muscles it requires to perform at the level required.

For some, the addiction is in the end goal reward, for others it is in the journey. The journey is so important because the road is uneven, it has twists and turns and unknown obstacles and each difficulty overcome is a transformative stress that makes the traveler stronger. Each milestone of improvement opens up alternate pathways to travel, new opportunities and a chance to have to adapt again.

Some learn to lift and hold more than others.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]