Effortless

The Effortless

Without a doubt, some of the most interesting things to have ever happened were never planned. It's easy to imagine things in life going perfectly as you had anticipated it, but we quickly learn early on that this notion is simply not the case. If we were to effortlessly pass a test or earn money or meet a special someone, we would be void of character. We would have lived our lives without ever knowing what challenge is and building the strength we need to get through the next one.

There are many things that are thrown our way that cannot be explained and it is our reaction to them that determines the outcome. But it is in these moments that we carve our character and make us the way we are and how we are to be remembered. To put it in perspective:

“Life is like playing a violin in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.”

(Samuel Butler, 1835-1902)

Life is like playing a violin, each person you meet is yet another bit of advice at getting better, by the time we have grown up, we are masters, but it all depends on how we use the advice.

There are only a few things that are important, at least to a majority of people that I have met. Life is about growing up, it's about meeting people, it's about having friends and a loving family (by loving family I mean being raised by one and/or raising one). They also all have a phase of irresponsible and reckless decisions, but it is this phase that develops our ability to make decisions, forcing us to learn quickly about what makes us indeed happy or sad and what is truly important for our own success. To go through this phase effortlessly is to lose the ability to make truly good decisions. By the way my definition of a decision is one based off experience, not one you have been told is the right one to choose. Challenge builds who we are, it builds friendships, relationships and makes goals worth achieving.

The purpose of what I have been writing is that you can't focus on one particular event, a success or a failure to gauge how you have been living or the choices you have made. If you don't get a job, it doesn't always mean it was because you were a terrible candidate for it. If you develop a crush for someone and they don't share the same feeling, it doesn't mean your an unattractive person or you were not good enough for them. It is nonsense that I am familiar with and hear quite often. It's silly, one should never focus on any single action as the sum of all their efforts, it won't put things in the correct perspective. These are just experiences:

“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.”

-Vernon Sanders Law

Experience requires effort, it is impossible to know what life holds for you by sitting around waiting for things to happen. At the same time, you can't expect to gain more useful experience by working for as many jobs as possible or randomly hooking up as often as you think would make you cool. It's a silly mistake that is often made and rarely learned from, experience takes effort and effort takes time, so to know what truly makes you happy takes time. But.....

“Experience teaches only the teachable.”

-- Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963)

So keep your minds open and make an effort.