Stop Being and Just Live

When you are a kid you are told that you can be anything if you just set your mind to it.  The world is one big oyster just waiting to be opened and inside is a huge beautiful pearl.  We spend our childhoods thinking about what will be, how famous we'll become, how rich we'll be, and how many adventures we'll have.  We are free of the burden society places on us, we are free of the day to day monotony, we are truly free spirits.  Somehow and sadly that changes over time.  As we enter out adulthood we realize that we can't be anything we want to be, we won't be rich, and the biggest adventure of the year involves a dry cleaning incident.  We start to focus on things that as kids we thought adults were stupid for engaging in.  We stop speaking our minds and we hide behind barriers that society deems as acceptable or safe.  We start to analyze the people we are friends with, is he/she good enough, do they make enough money, what will my other friends think if we are seen out together as a group.  We become vindictive, spiteful, judgmental, sacks of organs just trying to make a buck and survive.  We let imaginary rules of society's judgement shape our lives without so much as a thought as to why.  We stop reaching, stop risking, stop dreaming, we stop living and start being.  We stop being kids.


I often hear that life just flies by when you are an adult, but we know that's not the case.  There are still 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year, but as adults we are so focused just being that we stop appreciating the world around us.  Remember when the rain puddle outside was a lake for your GI Joes, or when the tree in your back yard was a jungle hideout?  Now the rain puddle is a nuisance and the tree in the back yard drops walnuts in the fall and screws up the lawnmower.  I know I sound like a Debbie Downer right now, but I think it's important to stop and realize that just waking up in the morning and going through the motions from 25 to Death isn't living life, it's missing it.  But you and only you have the power to change it.


This past weekend I spent 15 hours out with friends, starting at 9:00 AM on Saturday and ending at around 12:30 AM Sunday morning.  The time didn't fly by, but it moved at a pace that dates back to my childhood.  Each minute counted, each hour was something new, the time was meant to be enjoyed, not wished away. What was fantastic about it is that we all took the time to just enjoy each-other's company, we laughed, took silly pictures, made crude jokes, we ENJOYED life, we EMBRACED life, we LIVED life in the manner it was meant to be lived.  Sure I have the same days as a lot of people where I just go through the motions, but I work hard to ensure the majority of my days aren't like that.  I have a job where I can be myself and I am appreciated for the work I do.  I am married to a wonderful woman who loves me just the way I am.  I've had almost all the same friends since High School and we don't see the need to change who we are just for the sake of impressing some stranger giving us an odd look as we make duck faces to prove how it's not a sexy look.  The point is I stopped caring about what the majority of the world thinks of me, why should I change who I am for their sake?  If I'm not good enough for them the way I am, then they aren't good enough for me.


I'm sure people look at me and think "He can't be anything he wants to be, he's not rich, there's no adventure in his life", but they would be wrong.  I can be anything I want to be, it's called an Dungeons and Dragons bitches.  I am rich, I have more love coming from my friends and family than some old rich scrooge locked up in his mansion all alone, and every damn day is an adventure.  Folks I present you with a challenge.  For once in your life stop just being a part of it, pick up the GI Joes, and the My Little Ponies (or whatever little girls these days play with), turn the TV to Yo Gabba Gabba, and Wiggle, Wiggle, Wiggle your way into LIVING it!