Fuck Shit Up
Right off the bat, I know that this is a crazy story title, and I apologize in advance for the vulgarity of it. But I mean it in every sense of the word. Life is mistakes and learning from them. We have set ourselves up to follow such high standards of perfection that making mistakes appears catastrophic. I promise it’s not.
For as long as I can remember, anxiety has had me in its shackles. It has caused me to go with the flow, and my biggest worry is always, what will they think? That doesn’t really leave much room for blowing stuff up and making mistakes. Everything has to be pristine. The i’s have to be dotted, and the t’s have to be crossed, lest doomsday is upon me.
I am not much of a football fan, but I couldn’t help but think of this analogy. Not allowing yourself to make mistakes is like being on the bench in the game of your own life. You are just an observer, and you watch other people pull the strings for you. Because God forbid you join the game and make a mistake.
There is a term that has recently stuck with me and I’m sure you’ve also come across it somewhere: free will. Here is where I go all motivational on you but bear with me for a second. Yes, you will make mistakes and yes you will make a mess, but it’s your mess which you made with your own free will. I don’t know about you but that’s liberating to think about.
The best we can do at any position in life is to make decisions based on the information we have at the moment. Playing it safe doesn’t guarantee that mistakes won’t happen. It only guarantees that you end up in the same station in life and waste away what could have been. I am aware that some mistakes can be hard to reverse or come back from. But we as humans have been blessed with reasoning and logic and intuition. We always know when some things are not worth pursuing and when some are worth pursuing and worth suffering the consequences for. It’s all a matter of opportunity cost. Balance, if you may.
I saw a quote that said, “Life is too short to not be the director of your own story, even if it doesn’t guarantee a seamless happy ending.” Or something in those lines. So go out there and fuck shit up, respectfully.
