Displaced Reality

Life is a journey. Such a cliché but so apt when you've spent your life living for a forthcoming reality. Living for your dreams is, well, very romantic and all but if you spend too much time "waiting for you life to begin" you wake up one day wondering who you are.

I've done this. Several times. I STILL do it. It sucks; it's a case of "displaced reality" syndrome.

One of my good friends once said that there are three kinds of people: future, past and present-oriented. I would confess that most of my life has been future-oriented. This way of being goes hand-in-hand with sayings like: "one day you'll make it" or "I haven't arrived yet" - phrases which ultimately hold a person back from truly becoming ANYTHING. Add a dose of perfectionism in to all that and you've got some massive anxiety attacks en-route.

I've had these too. Several times. I STILL do...

Now it's time for another cliché breakdown:

"All we have is right now"

"Seize the day"

"Stop and smell the roses"

I have spent much of my live running different races trying to get somewhere. Sometimes it has been to fame and fortune or other times it is has been to have the "perfect romance" ("yeah, right" - sayeth the cynic). Through it all though, the RIGHT NOW has never been good enough. All the while I've been running towards something, I've been RUNNING AWAY from my human experience.

And while I do believe I am still going somewhere, I have really begun to realize that my inspiration is more a factor of my present experience rather that a random manifestation from my dream-life. In other words, I choose to keep moving toward the future BECAUSE of the RIGHT NOW. If my "right now" sucks, then why would I want to keep going? The answer is I wouldn't want to; and if it did keep going this way, I could probably look forward to a massive amount of anxiety about my life.

So, what's the answer, Heath?! We'll I'll tell you one day...

...WHEN I GET THERE!