The Internet is flooded with content, of course. As I sit here thinking about it, I'm tempted to give in to the defeatist within, saying, "There's nothing you have to offer that will truly add any value to other people's lives." It is definitely tempting to think that way, because when I do, I feel the peaceful serenity of being let off the hook from some arduous task. But wait: alarms go off in my head, and I realize, "Nate -- that's how you know that thinking is total crap."
If you're considering your options as you pursue your craft, and one of those options makes you feel like you do when you're sitting in your sweatpants in front of the T.V. with a bowl of ice cream, then you should not pick that option. It would be very easy to turn off my drive to provide something of value, but it would be the path of slow decay. By giving in to my metaphorical couch potato in this regard, I would be giving in to that opiate bliss of mediocrity and Zombie Brain.
I'll tell you what: I may well indeed be mediocre -- but that's beside the point, and not for me to decide. As Gandalf said, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." It's so tempting to rage against that thought, though, isn't it? "NO! I am not mediocre!!" Well, what if you are? Is that so bad? Does that mean you aren't unique, gifted, and with things of value to offer? No. Wait...what does "mediocre," when applied in wholesale terms to a human being, even mean? (Hint: nothing. It's crap.)
I was a theater major in college, so I studied a lot of, well, theater stuff. One of the most damnably frustrating -- and invaluable -- mantras of my professors was some variation of, "It's not about the results; it's about the process. Focus on developing a good process." It used to drive me crazy! I intuitively knew it to be a valuable thing for me to understand, but I couldn't internalize it. I grew up feasting on results, as do most of us in this culture. As for the process...huh? What does that even mean? Why are you talking to me about process when this won't mean anything if we aren't totally successful?
And there it is, folks: the fossilized nugget of crap we are tempted to buy into when we contemplate pursuing our dreams, ideas, goals, or taking steps into the unknown. The reason it's a nugget of crap is twofold: 1) It's an assumption that, if listened to, is 100% guaranteed to keep you from doing what you actually want to do with your time, and with your life on the whole; and 2) It's utterly out of step with reality. After all, folks, everything about the future, and most things about the fleeting present, are utterly unknown. In other words, we are always stepping into the unknown, folks -- always. Every second, every blink of an eye -- whether we want to or not.
I say this, then: we might as well seize control of the one thing any of us actually has control over: our actions. Fan those flames of creativity! Pursue what it is that is fulfilling and value-adding to yourself and others! Abandon your attachment to the outcomes of these endeavors, and just do them! You will be frightened, yes. But you will be fully in touch with your greatest resource and ally: yourself. And you are undoubtedly much more intelligent and resourceful than your opiate comfort zone would have you otherwise believe.
That's why I wrote this post, you guys. I was fretting and hemming and hawing about the "saturation of online content," and some such garbage. I cast off those shackles, and I wrote this post. And you know what? I feel really good about it.
Chances are good I'll have to always wrestle with that kind of self-doubt to some degree, and I accept that. But it's a process, just like recreational fishing: catch and release. All you can do is choose to cast your line; and if you do, and if you work at it and hone your technique through practice, the results, though out of your control, will follow.
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