We are different people, you and I. My name is Kris, yours is Poopie McFartypants. No takesie-backsies.
Our conditions are different. Our lives leading up to this moment have been dramatically different. Our life experiences, perspectives, our bowel movements... all different. We're aligned different structurally, morally, goalally... like our goals are differently aligned, however you would say that. I have friends that want to own tons of property, run multiple businesses, and wear suits to work. They're fine people and we get along great. I have friends that dig ditches all day, cut down trees, and lay asphalt. Those people are just as awesome. We are all different. But I must say, I do align better to the blue collar workers simply because of how genuine they are. They'll always be true to themselves and could care less if you like them.
Morgan Freeman/God said in Bruce Almighty, "People underestimate the benefit of good old manual labor. There's freedom in it. Some of the happiest people in the world go home smelling to high heaven at the end of the day."
There's so much truth to that quote. We all get wrapped up in the financials, the chasing of the all-mighty buck, and our title on the business card that you hand out to people that ultimately don't care. If you look back to the movie American Psycho, there's a scene where everyone hands each other business cards and the inner dialogue of the pro/antagonist (really wasn't a protagonist in that movie), is all about the comparison of his card to the other ones. Then there was jealousy and anger that the card was "better."
It's a goddamned piece of paper with your information on it. They're antiquated. You can store everyone's information in your phone. You can google it. There's Facebook. The cards are purely advertisement now... just another way for you to remember who the person is. Shouldn't a first impression be the "advertisement?" Shouldn't it be how the conversation went, how they made you feel, and the energy they gave off? But again, we're all different and that's what I remember of people. I may use their card for a few minutes to store their information in my pocket-computer-telephone-wallet-Gameboy-Walkman, but I have probably received hundreds of business cards over the years and they all end up getting thrown out. Sorry everyone, I want to reduce clutter in my life and quite frankly, your business card is clutter and inevitably more unnecessary noise in my life. /EndRant
Those are different ends of the spectrum. High end business/white collar work and then blue collar/get-my-hands-dirty grinding work. They've both never been for me and I've done both. I worked the dirty jobs where I'm up at 4:30am and watch the sun rise while I'm sweating my ass off mowing lawns or pushing a log through a chipper. I've also sat in an office, worn uncomfortable clothes for 9 hours and done work that doesn't seem to have any effect on anyone, except for the dork of a manager breathing down my neck for some report that no one will read.
We all find purpose on this planet. Some people are happy to do the tree work because they have a knack for it and love to play in trees. Some people are happy to work in the office, chase some status, deal with high stress, make a big paycheck and know that their family will be well taken care of. Whatever we end up doing, we must find meaning and purpose in what we do. At no point can we engage in nihilist behavior for a buck, otherwise it will disappear as soon as our bank account allows us to live.
I want to tell you I know what my purpose is. I want to tell you I've defined it, set a 5 year plan based on it, and I'm going to attack it. I want to tell you every nitty-gritty detail about why I was put here on this planet. I want to tell you that you should have some laid-out plan like me.
But I can't. I'm unsure. My finances are certainly not where I'd like them to be and I want to tell you I don't care. I want to say I can sit here and write all day to motivate your or to philosophize on our day to day bullshit, but my bill collectors have no interest in a martial arts lesson or a quirky take on why we use business cards. Verizon has still yet to buy me a coffee. What assholes.
Through discipline we can find freedom, right? I've heard it from multiple people. So yes, I'm most likely going to have to take on a job I don't like (again), and yes It's going to zap my time and energy, and yes I'm going to miss the days where I could get my 8 hours of sleep, my hour of breathwork/yoga, my 6 hours of exercise a day, and my peacefulness...
But I'm not going to stop writing, I'm not going to stop my Coffee Talks. I will continue to stay disciplined and creating these little chats, albeit they're quite freeform and all over the place, will be my solace. They're leading somewhere. I don't know where, but sometimes we find out when we arrive.
There was a smarter man than I that once said something about how he doesn't necessarily place huge goals for himself, but yet creates a healthy set of habits of things he loves to do and continues to do them. That's how he found himself to not only find the most success, but to be his happiest version of himself.
That's been me. I don't have any real place for these activities to lead. Enlightenment would be nice, but I can't promise that. Eventually I'd love to write a book, but the focus (right now) is consistency in the things that I love to do. That's doing martial arts, that's exercising, that's writing, that's making some goofy videos about being a good person, that's meditating. Perhaps I won't have the biggest blog on the planet, but I have one that continually pumps out "content" (or whatever the fuck this babble is). Perhaps I won't have the biggest YouTube channel on the planet, but I'll have one that is authentically me and has a constant positive message. I have no aspirations to be the best BJJ practitioner on the planet or win the crossfit games, but I'm going to keep training. I'll never be Wim Hof, but I'm certainly going to own my headspace and be responsible for the energy that I give off. I tell everyone that I'm not some amazing, brilliant guy... I just keep showing up. I'm like a nicer version of Herpes - there's no getting rid of me.
We don't all need to have these huge goals to accomplish. We're not all the same. We can't be. Just like people have told me that they love what I'm doing, I love what YOU'RE doing. I want grab some of your habits too! Being all the same is boring as vanilla ice cream with vanilla frosting on a vanilla turd. Variety is the spice of life. Be different, do what you love, give back, and be happy with the progress you make. Whatever you choose to do, whatever your habits help you create, make sure that they're HABITS and you do them CONSISTENTLY.
If you draw once, workout once, play the guitar once... nothing will come of it. Stay the path, continue to do what you love to do. Remember - the goal just needs to be doing it consistently, not to become the next Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan. Honestly, this blew my mind. Google is a beautiful thing.
I love you all. Buy a coffee if you're still reading this. Let me know you're alive. Or just give it a like. There's that too. It's a "heart." Can you not click the "heart?" If you can't click it, you don't have a heart. How about that? What now? I've now logically cornered you into clicking the heart. Or, you're just going to spite me and not click it. You can lick it too. That's just the click without the C. Whichever. I do enjoy a good coffee on your dime though. C'mon. If you're still reading this, what's to lose? I'll keep writing, you feed me coffee, we all win. Maybe I'll change it to a beer. Maybe you buy me a beer and this writing starts to take a dramatic shift...
Let me know IN THE COMMENTS. YOU CAN ADD COMMENTS, YOU KNOW. THIS DOESN'T HAVE TO BE A ONE WAY STREET.
Okay, I have shit to do. Bye! ... me a coffee. HA!