What matters and what works…

Observing the way most people just quit working for a better life and eventually lose belief in the idea of a better universe is probably an activity we unconsciously perform every single day. I bet almost everybody went through the “why should I bother if no one does” experience at some point in their lives. Yet we still had to feel uncomfortable every time anybody could show us we can’t simply take this for granted. What’s interesting here is what we keep thinking in order to feel comfortable with it in the first place…

It must be something beyond our frail human nature, something we can’t alter no matter how much we try and regardless of how competent or capable the human race will ever be, something that makes it so much easier to admit we’re just helpless beings and just settle for the anguish and suffering of humanity without wanting to fight, something like the nonnegotiable facts of life! For example, it’s really mind boggling that good and evil are never absolute on earth, that human beings do not possess any power or control over the course of the universe, or the fact that our time on this planet is very limited.

The grander and more complex the fact is, the faster the determined belief in a better universe fades. And that’s when most people just decide to put aside their arms and resort to the random factor called LUCK! So, they just decide that exerting any effort for any reason will never really matter, even if it’s for the sake of becoming fit for the better things in life, because they chose to believe it will never work in the end anyway!

Sadly, too many people spend too much time and maybe even complete lifetimes feeling absolutely no problem with waiting to be struck by good luck. As if luck is the missing supernatural factor in the equation that could resolve the whole thing and simply lead them towards the things they desire.

The time people waste waiting for this missing factor is in fact the time they spent escaping fear, hiding in their hard shells with no will to interact with their surroundings in any respect that demands work. It is simply the fear that if they open up and give their 100 % they might get broken by the things they can’t control. So, while living inside that shell, people would watch opportunities pass them by, one after another, and because they never prepared themselves for any of them, they will of course miss them! They may even be blind enough to envy those who have the things they don’t and most probably they’ll condemn the very thing they believed would save them, LUCK!

“Luck is where the crossroads of opportunity and preparation meet.” Seneca, a first-century Roman philosopher.

For people who finally decide to be honest with their own selves, that should be the moment when they realize that wasting time looking for a lazy and easy way out, instead of spending it on doing what matters, was the only thing that worked for others. They should be able to understand that walking the distance and doing what matters, is actually the only thing that ever makes things work, for everybody! It will also be easier to see that even if there are things we can’t control about life, this shouldn't make us quit trying to be in control of the things we can! For instance, the fact that the world will end one day and that we don’t even know when, never stopped a mom from taking care of her children. The same should work for all other facts!

There could be many reasons for people to stop doing the things that matter. For example, some people give up due to bad experiences from the past, but that doesn't mean all that’s to come is going to be bad too. Some do because they've been working for a long time but never really gained what they sought Others do because they feel that wanting to do what really matters just no longer makes any sense.

The truth is, there will always be reasons for people not to do what they need to be doing. But because we don’t know how long it’s going to take before doing the things that matter pays off and actually work, is precisely why we should be prepared. After all we never know what god has in store for us, and we should start considering the good things that could include, not only the bad. We must believe in the sweet feeling of reaping the fruits of our labor.