Horrible Advice

Screw that!

Accept where I am in life according to whom?

No one is allowed to tell me about my “position in life” because it’s nobody’s business.

And where I am right now has nothing to do with where I want to be. And if I want to be somewhere else, you shouldn’t try to convince me to accept where I am right now. That’s just plain stupid.

I guess if you want to lurk within the realm of mediocrity for the entirety of your life on earth then it would be acceptable to just let the winds throw you into whichever nook or corner in the world and cozy up to the place and grow mold all over yourself basking in pure complacency and apathy. No! You never do that. You never strip yourself of your God-given right of agency and personal sovereignty that affords you a choice in where you want to go, where you want to be, and whether you want to stay in the gutters or climb up your own mountain.

I believe there is a way to look at the above quote in another light. It is possible to think that a great way to move ahead in life is to be fully aware of where you stand here and now in the present, be at peace with it, and drop any baggage you might still have from the past, to be able to travel light unencumbered by past experiences, injustice, or failures. And yes, you do have a solemn duty to make the most of every single day you have, actually, every single moment you have in the present because this is all you have within your power. Your future is just a series of “Now” moments strung together. Logic dictates that a better future is just a series of good decisions made in the present, consistently.

But this is not how I saw this quote because of an extremely loaded and quite meaningless word: Happy.

Happiness is just a childish notion that is completely mired in plenty of gullibility and lack of awareness.

Happiness is an inside job, something that you create for yourself deep from within. It is a feeling of purpose, meaning, aim, personal drive, faith, and steadfastness. Happiness is a byproduct of struggle and runs hand-in-hand with its best friend wisdom. You do not get happiness without toil and strife. You never get something so valuable for nothing short of plenty of serious arduous work. Any shortcuts you take in life will eventually catch up to you and the bill is going to be stiff.

This is the sort of happiness I believe in, but those words printed on a green background are so short and light on the eyes for an audience of sufferers of attention deficit social media addiction, and hence devoid of any meaning or substance so much it ticked me off.

You do people a big disservice if you imply to them and convince them to look down, never rock the boat, follow the rules, bow down to authority and abide by the codes of conduct and current policies.

You want people to make a ruckus, make a name for themselves, and make themselves in the process.

Yes, accept where you are in life, but that is to understand where you’ve come from, where you’re going, the distance you have to travel, the speed you need to reach your target within good time, and the plan of action to achieve your goals.

Yes, you make the most of what you have in your possession and what is available to you in your immediate environment and within your heart and mind. You use everything in your toolbox to achieve your aims in life.

Yes, you make every single day the best day of your life by doing everything within your power to make it useful and to compound whatever value you can extract out of it atop all the other days you spent doing the same things.

Happy? You don’t even want to consider that word. It means just idle childish joy and no work, no achievement, no merit, and no victory. There is Nothing sweeter, more joyous, more intoxicating, and more pleasurable than the euphoric happiness one gets from achieving something that was previously thought of as an impossible task.

You’re not a child anymore. Get off your ass and do something hard, do it well, and be known for it. All greatness in life comes out of that birthplace. Happiness is irrelevant because it’s just one moment, but the real pleasure is in the journey itself, that’s what you’ll eventually treasure the most.