Life Archives - Page 3 of 12

December 21, 2018July 23, 2019

Failing To Understand Failure And Success Follow The Same Principles #172.

Cut From The Same Cloth Both Success and Failure Start Slow Than Come All At Once.

The key is paying attention to the consistent micro actions you are participating in. Is it one of future failure or one of future success? Each action builds over time till one day you become exactly what your actions dictated. Do you look at your significant other lovingly or with scorn and annoyance? Do you feel they are a burden or an asset?

Small Actions

Small actions will show through no matter how you hide your feelings. Do you work everyday to improve your station in life or are you living paycheck to paycheck. Do you spend frivolously or do you spend conservatively? Each minor purchase is a tell tale sign of where your finances will be.

Do you pass on the veggies and go straight for refined starches or do you workout daily and cut out junk food? We’re all skinny until one day we’re all of a sudden fat, over weight and lethargic.

It All Adds Up.

Or some of us might be overweight till one day we have others commenting on how fit we look. None of it happens over night. Success is a long process of small decisions and actions. A slow simmer before the boil.

Trust me the simplest acts are always adding up. You may believe an action isn’t anything other than a passing moment of time with no consequence. This line of thinking can cost you dearly.

Micro Adjustments

If you neglect to focus on or fail to see that your glance, your remark, your body language is all playing into a bigger picture. Than you will be blindsided when your house of cards comes crumbling down. But if you pay attention and course correct early on, at the onset of slightest misstep. Those micro adjustments can have major ramifications over time and distance. If you’re off one degree over the span of the earth you will miss your destination by hundreds if not thousands of miles. That is why we must always course correct. Mistakes as well as successes compound over time.

How Did We Get Here?

We are exactly where we are because we put ourselves there. No amount of wants or desires will show through without a equal level of actions that put you in that life scenario. You may say you want something but your actions might betray that desire.

No one ever says I want to be poor, I want to be divorced, I want to be in prison. Yet I guarantee if you trace back all the individuals who are where they want to be or not where they want to be. With every single one of them you will find a well trodden path to that destination. Their very own perfect trail of actions that led them down that road. They may not even see it for themselves. You might have to uncover a few bushes or hidden shrubbery. But clear as day you will find the path.

Proper Actions.

Just keep etching your trail towards the better, make adjustments along the way. Ask for directions when you need to. Your partner and those closest to you are best suited to tell you where you might need to make adjustments. But when you look back at your accomplishments you’ll know it was a slow process getting there than all of a sudden one day you were there.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

December 14, 2018July 24, 2019

Don’t Always Conform #168.

Be Unapologetically Yourself And Don’t Always Conform To Societal Norms.

Some societal norms are of necessity to conform too. As to not harm other individuals with your actions. Don’t kill cheat or steal these are things we can agree to conform too to protect our fellow man. But in other areas of life we need not always conform.

Your Choice Is Who You Chose To Be.

As the great poet Ben Harper would say, your choice is who you choose to be and if you’re causing no harm than your alright with me. My choice is what I choose to do and if I’m causing no harm it shouldn’t bother you. Yet everywhere we look we are guided into conformity and it starts and a very early age.

Social norms dictate that you act as others do as to not disrupt the delicate balance of those interactions. What we wear, how we look, what we say all require a sense of uniformity. It takes a keen eye to understand you are playing a role and to break free from that role you need to go against the grain.

The strange thing is, and it’s something you have to pay very close attention to is this. Even when you think you might be bucking the trend, you may just be conforming to someone else’s rules.

The Conform of Nonconformity

I recently read of an artist who thought they were living the life of an artist not conforming to societal norms. Getting face and neck tattoos so he could be unhireable.

Sometime we just have to play by our own set of rules and this individual thought he was doing that. He moved into an “artist” warehouse where many other artist and misfits made their home. Yet in his attempt to check out of “normal” society he still had to pay rent, eat and buy supplies for his art. This required income.

36 People Perished In The Fire.

Eventually the manager of the warehouse allowed him to live rent free if he cleaned the bathrooms, collected the rent checks and occasionally put on events, basically he was working a job conforming to the rules the manager of the property set for him. Eventually this nonconformist put on a concert at this illegal warehouse living space and due to all the faulty wiring of the building it caught fire and 36 people died.

He was eventually blamed for these death and is now is forced to conform to a new life behind bars. He did not kill those people but the fact that he did the bidding of other individuals made him some how an accomplice. Don’t simply be the accomplice in others work, plans, goals or dreams. Or in this case a nightmare. This individual conformed through anti-conformity. It’s seems like these things can’t exist together but surely they do. And now this individual has to conform to the penitentiary system.

Be Yourself.

Walk to the beat of your own drum, conform where is absolutely necessary but go against the grain when it feels like the right move. Or if something doesn’t feel right, don’t simply conform to it because that’s what someone who might seem to have authority says to do. Question it and jump ship when it’s the wrong move.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

December 7, 2018July 24, 2019

Forgive #166.

Why Does If Feel Like If We Make Any Little Mistake, We’ll Pay For It For The Rest Of Our Lives? Forgive And Move Forward.

Why is it we find this so difficult to forgive? No matter what we do or say someone somewhere will always find offense with it. It’s impossible to be perfect all the time. Yet our spouses expect it, media expects it, family can expect it. It’s as if you have a one or two off days and that’s it. We will excommunicate you. Banished for life why we maintain this grudge. It’s absolutely ridiculous folks.

You may not always agree with what someone else says but they have a right to that opinion just like you have the right to disagree with that opinion. Neither of which is always right and that’s the paradox of it all. So why not forgive, no one is actually right 100 percent of the time. So that’s where our conflicts needs to end, a small disagreement. We don’t need to hold on to it and escalate it to the point of causing harm.

We Seem To Live In World That Is Constantly Unrelenting In It’s Willingness To Chastise.

Recently Kevin Hart was hired on to host the Emmy’s. Within a few days of the announcement he had to step down from his post because a few people took offense to tweets he made. Probably in an attempt to be funny, but they were homophobic in nature.

Although I don’t condone what he said I will defend the right to say it. Everyone has the right to speak there mind. I highly recommend avoiding hate speak though. When you take that position you are already coming at it from a place that lacks forgiveness.

If you hate something it’s because you are unwilling to come to terms with it, you feel incapable to forgive how it makes you feel. Let it go, forgive others, forgive yourself. Educate yourself in order to see others points of view. Don’t fear the lifestyles and cultures of others, learn to assimilate, you don’t have to actively participate but you can be respectful in your decline.

Projection.

If someone does something harmful to you, it’s probably because they couldn’t forgive something in themselves that they may see in you or think they see something they might deem unforgivable and vise versa. So the cycle continues. Close the loop, forgive.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

December 4, 2018July 24, 2019

Confirmation Bias #165

Don’t Believe Everything You Hear Or Read. Avoid Confirmation Bias In The Wrong Information.

Especially on this website. These articles are my developed cognitive biases. You don’t have use them to be your confirmation bias. There will always be information to either support or reject your ideas and hypothesis. Be sure to do your research learn every possible angle and make your own conclusions from the most logical deductions.

We are shaped by our cognitive biases. I believe it’s healthy to have such gifts. Nothing great, incredible, or new was every built or imagined without some form of cognitive bias.

Think Outside The Box.

You will have to go against the grain. against the status quo to bring an ambition or something that has never been done to life. It’s those without the cognition to think outside the box that become the naysayers. They will tell you that can’t be done or it’s a stupid pipe dream. These are the individuals who have myopic views of the world.

They will read articles and listen to talking heads that reinforce and support those such views and it will get them locked deeper into them. This is confirmation bias at work and it’s closed minded thinking. They are trapped by this thinking and the snare only cinches tighter.

Our Beliefs

Keep an open mind even if we believe we know we are right. Also forego telling those individuals any of your dreams, actually tell no one for that matter and just build it. I read that when you tell someone a goal or a far fledged aspiration the mind constructs that event as if it has been done and you receive the hit of dopamine when people like your idea. So much so that you feel the accolades prior to even doing anything. That action has the adverse effect and more often than not prevents you from taking any action. Why leap when you already told others about your future leap and they already congratulated you prematurely?

Options.

Feel free to be biased in ways that will keep you and our culture advancing. Crush the biases that keep you standing still or worse reverting back to negative patterns of thought and expression.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

December 1, 2018July 26, 2019

The Fear Of Missing Out (Blowing It Scenario #164)

It’s A Easy Fix, If Have A Fear Of Missing Out On Something. Simply Change What You Desire Or That Which You Value Most.

Easier said than done most will say. Some might even fear change itself. That’s a very tough predicament to find yourself in, with all those elevated levels of fear. For those of you who are fearful of many things, such as fear of missing out, or the fear of change. There is a solution and its not glamorous.

Routine Is Your Salvation.

No magic pills just hard work. Embrace that which you are most afraid to change. Lean into that fear, make the change. Do it day in and day out and just never stop doing it till it becomes habitual. You won’t even have to think about it. Tough at first but second nature after a period of time and repetition. It may take a month to build the new habit or a lifetime of focus. It really comes down to how you view it. If you feel its a struggle, it will be one. However, if you feel you are working on mastering your mind and body. It will be a trans-formative and enjoyable experience.

A friend of mine who struggles with drug usage. Reached out to another friend of mine who struggles with enabling in help through financial means.

The drug user friend knows exactly who to reach out to get the form of “help” he needs, usually financial. And he’ll tug on their heart strings with messages like “I’m homeless can you help” or “I’m out of gas and need money.” Many generous friends have given this individual a lot of money over the years. Only to watch him squander it on drugs and gambling.

How To Change.

These friends now know after thousands of dollars spent trying to help. That their contribution isn’t helpful at all. In fact it has the adverse effect and the only thing that will help this individual is change. Change he is afraid to make but it’s supremely necessary.

Change Your Environment.

First he’ll need to change his environment, ditch the people closet to you. Negative “friends” will drag you down with them given the opportunity and misery loves company. He needs to get them completely out of his life. Then work on changing habits, desires and values. You would have to desire change and not just spare change for the next fix, actual change. Which I believe most people want.

Guide Your Actions, Make It Emotional.

Here is how the drug user could help himself. Wake up every morning at the exact same time. Wake at 6 am, then workout, then write a journal about your recovery. Full of emotion and feeling and how you are going to make that one day better than the last. If you want, post it online to help other individuals in their recovery. Eat a healthy natural breakfast full of fruits and vegetables, eat that throughout the day. Go to work, if you can’t find work, volunteer.

Just keep yourself from being idle throughout the day. As the saying goes idle hands are the devils tools. It’s a very true statement, if you don’t have productive activity that’s where bad things find root. And don’t just vacantly say you will do these things, do them because in the famous words of John D. Rockefeller, “words without deeds are like a garden full weeds.” Lastly set a sleep time and routine for every evening, stick to it religiously. This is the way to help that friend, he has to help himself.

I’ll say it again routine is the salvation. He may not understand it, and he may not recognize it right now. But he is already in a negative pattern, a negative routine, it’s a cycle. He has a fear of missing out, and he’s afraid to change. But if you fear missing out on night life or drinks and doing drugs, change your desires.

Prioritize.

Make sleep the choice you prioritize, something you are unwilling to miss out on. Value moments throughout your day with friends. Take that time to create things, rather then consume or simply enjoy great conversation. Make a good cut off time every evening for alone wind down time and ultimately bed time.

Value your time alone, don’t feel that you always need to be in company. And when you are in company make the best of it. Just choose better desires and better values. Than continue to act on those and life will change for the better around you.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

November 30, 2018July 26, 2019

Strike While The Iron Is Hot #163.

Strike While The Iron Is Hot, The Only Thing That Should Prevent You Is Other Hotter Irons.

Strike while the iron is hot is some of the best advice their is. So simple in its message, so succinct. Yet we often don’t heed it till its far too late. And what once was hot is now ice cold no long malleable.

Jump at opportunities the moment they present themselves. Don’t wait around believing these opportunities will always be there. The irons always grow cold with time. And what once was an incredible possibility, is now a memory of what could have been.

Even if you’re slightly uncertain if its something you want to pursue. At the very least try it out. Just except it conditionally, than do your research, and if you find it’s something definitely not for you, you can than decline.

We Believe It Will Always Be Available.

So many of us often believe that if something or someone presents themselves to us that we have this unlimited time frame. That that opportunity will always be available to us. If it happens once it can happen again, right? This more often than not isn’t the case. We simply miss the boat and when we finally decide we want to catch it we’re left to swim after it, almost destined to never to draw near again, just simply treading water in it’s wake.

That’s not to say it can’t happen with tenacity and relentlessness. You can eventually catch back up but wouldn’t you have rather caught it when you had the chance to simply walk aboard. If it’s a ship your weary of, just be sure to bring an extra life boat and some survival gear. It might be in for the ride of your life. Or after inspection you deem it to be something that is not seafaring and will potentially sink with you aboard, get off before you set sail.

At least you said yes and than did your research which turned into a no. These are all just metaphors for take the chance. You never want to look back on a life less lived and think to yourself I wish I would have just jumped at that opportunity.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

November 29, 2018August 2, 2019

Craving Attention #162.

Stop Craving Attention In The Wrong Way. We Can Hear And See You Just Fine. You Can Turn Down The Volume On That Boisterous Voice Of Yours.

It has always baffled me how some need constant focus on themselves. As if your attention isn’t ever needed elsewhere. And is only best suited on them. Always craving attention from everyone in the room. They try to control every conversation. They only listen to others not to gain a better understanding. Instead it’s in order to find their next topic to discuss themselves more. And when a break in conversation happens, it’s back to them.

Many Have A Craving Attention, It’s Why Social Media Is So Successful.

As children it is understandable, in fact it’s quite necessary actually. As we grow older though, what is it that carries with some individuals that they must always be a distraction in the room? A simple distraction in the room is sometimes the best case scenario for people craving attention.

Negative Side Of Craving Attention

A select few will lash out in unimaginable ways. They will quietly endure the pain of neglect or unwelcome negative focus until it reaches a boiling point. They think if they do harm than others will finally see them.

Channel The Craving In A Good Way.

Craving Attention — Photo by Miguel Henriques on Unsplash

Yet other times attention needed is channeled into a productive projects like acting or singing, modeling or lecturing. Never the less needing others attention is an act that is 100 percent reliant on varying perimeters outside their control.

You can’t always maintain another’s focus nor must they give it to you. It is their right to ignore. We can only worry about what we do, where we place our focus. Not what others can do for us. I’m sure for some attention is like a dopamine hit with the more eyes on them the bigger the high.

Good Side.

I guess you can argue that just like with everything else there is usually a good side and a bad side to craving attention from others. The good side would be those making us laugh, helping us grow, and entertaining us.

Bad Side.

The bad side would be those looking to fight, harming others, causing annoying distractions, or yelling obscenities. If you do feel you need all eyes on you, that isn’t always a bad thing.

I would just highly recommend you channel it into something of value to others and let others decide if they want to pay attention to you or not. Or simply let go of the unnecessary need to have attention on you.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

November 29, 2018August 10, 2019

Theft #161.

Stealing Is Never The Right Answer. And With The Holidays Approaching Theft Happens Even More Often. It Takes A Special Kind Of Low To Take From Another.

It’s that time of year, with all the wonderful giving, there is a select few who are performing theft. You’ll watch it on the local news almost nightly. Security cameras will pick up some entitled selfish individual jumping out of their car in order to go steal someone else’s boxes from their porch. Boxes they did not pay for or earn, nor do they even know what these boxes contain.

They just steal in the hopes its of value to them.

Do they simply throw it out if it’s not what they want? Or do they sell it cheap online, possibly less than half of what the purchaser paid for it? It certainly isn’t returned to the rightful owner.

In their actions they show a blatant disregard for others. Not only their personal property but also there trust and security and faith in humanity. What would ever possess someone to do such things?

Ethical Theft

There are very few things that can be considered ethical theft. Stealing another’s freedom if they abuse it is sometimes the only answer. But almost all thievery is unnecessary, not just the poor stealing to get by. But also the wealthy charging far more than necessary for goods and services. There are very few if any noble pursuit that involve stealing.

You’re Doing Something Terribly Wrong With Your Life.

If you feel you have to steal from another at any point just to make ends meet or get farther ahead, you are doing something terribly wrong in life to put yourself in such a position. The sad thing about it is, stealing does advance one party but it only comes at the expense of another. And stealing from someone who is stealing only perpetuates the problem.

Exacerbating The Problem

The drug addict will still get his fix, while the tool owner will have to buy a new tools or whatever the addict chooses to take to sell for a drastically lower price. Some might purchase that cheap item online that was stolen from another. This only exacerbates the problem.

Those in power who take from the pockets of those with lessor means are not just nefarious in their actions, They will often continue to advance while others suffer. Same thing there, the problems only surmount. The snakeoil salesmen who sells his snakeoil. He increases while others decrease. At what point do your individual needs encroach on other individuals rights?

The Helpful Neighbor That Dies Trying To Stop Thieves

Recently I read about an old lady who’s house was broken into and the group of thieves were just children. You show me the household of kids like this and I guarantee it will display a history of perpetual theft. Be it theft of innocence or theft of love. Something was taken or withheld. So they do it to others.

Sadly the kids didn’t end with just breaking into an helpless old ladies house. A considerate neighbor came to check on the house for the lady and the thieving children stole that man’s life. It’s senseless, it’s selfish, it’s horrific and it needn’t happen. Especially to those trying to help others. Let’s give rather than take from one another and let that be the action that gets perpetuated.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don't, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

November 13, 2018August 13, 2019

Think And Grow Rich #156.

You Will Accomplish Zero By Applying The Think and Grow Rich Principle. Thoughts Without Action Will Render Nothing. Think As Much As You Want. Than Go Ahead And Multiple That Thinking By A Billion. The Math Will Always Add Up The Same. Zero Times Anything Is Still Zero.

We love to eat up the notion brought forth by new age movement. That we can literally think our way to riches. An idea made popular by Napoleon Hill in his seminal work Think and Grow Rich.

It’s such an easily romanticized idea. If we just keep our minds fixated on something that we truly want we will eventually magically receive it. Books like the secret, the answer. All books based on this notion. I’d like to know how many have actually put this to the test to no avail?

Many Self Help Gurus Espouse The Same Information.

It’s simply regurgitated from one to the next over and over again. Law of attraction they call it, as if its innate in nature. One of the natural laws similar to gravity. Yet many of these so called gurus make their living by simply copying and pasting this overused unoriginal concept. They just pick the low hanging fruit and eventually get there wealth by telling other people it’s just that easy.

I once bought into to the lies of Napoleon. I’ve tried many affirmations. At one point for three months straight I set an alarm for every hour of the day and when that alarm went off, I would say my affirmations. It seems crazy but I wanted to test the validity.

All it got me was disappointment with my current life. No magical blessing of what I was asking the universe for, no handouts, nothing. As a matter of fact, the more I thought of these things, the further I seemed to push them away. I lost quite a bit trying to reaffirm them in life. I did not think and grow rich. It’s funny how that works you chase something so hard you sometimes ultimately end up pushing it further away.

The Lies Of Napoleon Hill

It wasn’t until I read about the real Napoleon Hill that it all clicked. The man was a complete fraud, a huckster and a swindler, a true charlatan. He would start fraudulent businesses and steal money from people. It wasn’t until he wrote “Think And Grow Rich” that he made an honest dollar and even than none of it was honest.

There Is No Proof Of Napoleon Hill Ever Meeting Andrew Carnegie.

The validity of this book was predicated on the notion that the information was coming from an individual who reached the upper echelon in life and business. Hill’s claim to have studied the wealthy and that he was hired and taught all this by Andrew Carnegie, one of the most wealthy men in history was a complete lie. There is no record anywhere of Hill ever meeting Carnegie a claim Hill started making ten years after the death of Carnegie. If you ever want to dig deeper into it I suggest reading The Untold Story Of Napoleon Hill.

This Is Not To Say Mind Isn’t A Powerful Tool That Doesn’t Play A Role In Your Growth.

Mental training is a huge part of success. It just coincides with the work. It can be as simple as belief in yourself that you can achieve what you want. And than go out and do it and keep doing it till one day like magic you achieve your desires. Where the body goes the mind will follow. Just do and don’t stop doing. Do not wait for some spark or try to think your way to motivation. Just keep working.

The Work Ethic Of Drew Brees.

If you were fortunate enough to catch Drew Brees (one of the greatest quarter backs in NFL history) a man that by all means was never supposed to make it in the NFL. He was too short for the position and to add to that he had a near career ending injury and the team that drafted him thought he was done and traded him away because of it. But he worked incredibly hard to get back on top and ultimately would break the all time passing yards record.

No other quarterback has ever done what he has done and the first thing he did when he broke the record was he went over to his family grabbed sons and simply gave them the best one line piece of advice you could give anyone. He said “how about that huh boys? I love you guys so much. Hey, you can accomplish anything in life if you’re willing to work for it, right.” And there in lies “the answer.” “The secret” is hidden in plain sight. Are you willing to work for it?

It’s Not Some Lazy Magic Pill Of Thinking Your Way To Growth.

Many of these self help books do in fact actually help a lot of people. But only if you use them to take action and continue to do so every single day. Dreams are just dreams until you build them and plans are simply plans until you follow through with them. It’s not until you put in the work that nature begins to reward. You start with an idea, than once you build it, you can “think” your way to enhancements. The mind can then sharpen the tools that are already in service.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don't, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

November 5, 2018August 29, 2019

Dying For Image #155.

Image Is Everything Is What We’re Instructed To Believe. It’s Simply Not True And We Need Not Give Up Everything In Order Obtain It.

All that truly matters is how we view ourselves and are we living up to that view. We needn’t worry how others view us but history has shown us that is a forced concern placed upon at every turn. We feel the need to show the external world how much better off we are then anyone else.

We’ll sometimes get locked into an image we simply can’t remove ourselves from without losing those around us that cling to that image. For the alcoholic or the drug user those closest to you will view you as that and in doing so make it so much harder for you to escape it. Sometimes death is the only way out from such a image.

Holding On To Old Images.

Health can take a hit while maintaining image. Jolly fat man with the poor diet. The skinny model with a diet on the opposite spectrum. The bodybuilder who over works there heart in order to obtain the biggest muscles. Is your youthful beauty declining in old age? Well we have plastic surgery and Botox injections for that. Many will go under the knife to maintain that image. Some might not wake up from it.

It’s so much worse now with the advent of social media. We create these images of ourselves online for the world to see but it’s really all just smoke and mirrors. Those who use those services are all culprits of it. The doting husband, the perfect family, the best body, the world travelers. Just the best possible image without any backstory.

The Lies We Tell Through Imagery.

I’ve been a purveyor of such lies myself. And in our quest to display our best possible image, we trash all the mediocre images of ourselves. Ones that we deem not good enough. Maybe that’s part of the problem, that action of throwing out our own images so often, might cause some self loathing. I’m no psychologist but it seems logical to me to assume if we look at an image of our self and constantly tell ourselves it isn’t good enough. We may run into some problems with how we perceive our own image down the road, psychologically speaking.

The Good Old Days Of Photography.

Not too long ago the pictures we took were the ones we were stuck with and we learned to be happy with the final product. Even if we didn’t look our best. Now we feel we must always up the ante in order to keep up with all the noise and content already out there. So we’ll take riskier photos, travel to exotic locales more for the photo op and less for the experience. Or, to show others you have better experiences than they do. It’s so addictive too.

Just last week a young couple perished attempting to convey there image of travel bloggers to the world. In the process of obtaining more content for there Instagram they fell from a cliff side while attempting to take a photo at a cliff edge in Yosemite.

This Is Not A One Off Thing.

Many have sacrificed everything for that elusive perfect image. It’s simply not worth it. Maybe you’ll get more followers but that should not be tied to self worth. Never tie image to that which might harm. Just enjoy life, make great memories through experiences. Just stay safe while doing it.

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