It's here, it's finally here! School's about to let out and summer is about to start. It's time to find your gym membership card that you haven't used since January 2, clean off the grill, and pretend that there's not going to be any traffic on the way to the beach. We have the Sun shining and the beach waiting! It's time to forget about the cold and start enjoying the hot!
. . . until it becomes TOO hot and then we start wanting it to be cold again. It always happens. In the winter, we post pictures of how high the snow is and how we can't wait until summer. Fast forward five months and we post pictures of thermometers in the triple digits and say we can't wait for winter. We want what we don't have and we want to be where we aren't. We don't like how things are, so if we just change our environment, then everything will be better, right? Nope.
. . . until it becomes TOO hot and then we start wanting it to be cold again. It always happens. In the winter, we post pictures of how high the snow is and how we can't wait until summer. Fast forward five months and we post pictures of thermometers in the triple digits and say we can't wait for winter. We want what we don't have and we want to be where we aren't. We don't like how things are, so if we just change our environment, then everything will be better, right? Nope.
Something that I'm hearing a lot now that people have come back from spring break vacations is how much better it was down in Florida or at the beach or New York. "Jason, I think that's what I need to do. I just need to move out to [insert place with palm trees on its vacation brochure], and then things will be better. I'll get away from all this crap, I'll get away from these stupid people, I'll get away from this place. [Insert wherever person lives] is killing me; I just need to get away."
My response is the typical facepalm. I just wish that people would put more thought into it. Yes, you have your job, you have your annoying friends, you have whatever living situation you have, this is all true. But really, do you think that those are the things that are making your life hard? What's the thing that all of those things have in common? You. You are the constant there. And you think that moving to a different environment will change anything? Come on. That's called a geographical solution to a non-geographical problem.
Okay, so you move to Florida from here in Delaware. Awesome. So instead of being pissed about the snow, you can be pissed about the humidity. Oh well, at least it changes every twenty minutes. You hate your job at Bank of America? Thank God you got that new job down there at Citibank. Now your manager is named James instead of John, the gossip is now at a Deer Park water cooler instead of a Primo one, and your parking spot is in the middle of a 60-space parking lot as opposed to at the end of a 30-space lot. Your friends are now the guys at O'Sullivan's as opposed to Sully's complaining about Tannehill's bad game instead of the stinker that Foles had (trust me, he's not having another seven touchdown game). Everything's the same, but hey, at least you get to pay sales tax and get those hurricane shutters you've always wanted.
This happens because we don't take responsibility for what we don't like in our lives. Everything is your boss's fault just like when you were in school you would've gotten that B in English if your teacher's name couldn't be replaced by a colorful word that starts with that same letter. It's not because you didn't study, it's not because you didn't bother to read the book, it's because Ms. Smith hated you. If only you had a different teacher, you'd have gotten that full ride to Yale, right? Sound eerily similar to the same thing that your kids are saying now that finals are coming up along with the excuses for disappointing grades? The more circumstances change, the more they stay the same.
My parents' generation will tell me about how much easier life was when they were growing up in the 50's and 60's. They didn't have to worry about identity theft or terrorism, they just enjoyed their lives. You know, aside from that whole "duck-and-cover-drills-because-the-Soviets-are-going-to-nuke-us-and-this-fake-wood-desk-will-protect-me" stuff and that little Kennedy assassination thing. Other than that things were MUCH easier. We blame the times just like we blame our environments without bothering to make any changes ourselves. It's the exact opposite of Not My Fault, Not My Problem.
So, don't start packing up. Don't book that U-Haul. Don't burn your bridges on your way to the airport. Change what's here. Don't like your job? Talk to your boss. Take on different projects. Look at other positions. Don't like your friends? Talk to other people where you hang out. Don't go to the same bar/club/gym. Try something new. Take responsibility for your own life and do something about the things that you don't like instead of just doing a very expensive version of running away. That doesn't solve anything and will only get you the same life in a brand new place, not a brand new life.
I know that may sound a little harsh, but trying to escape a situation doesn't change a thing. If you don't like where you are, then stop taking the path that got you there. Do something differently. It's not the easiest thing to do, so give me a holler before making any huge decisions that could change your life without changing 104.5 from rock to Florida's top Spanish classical station. You can always contact me through this website, shoot me an e-mail, or call/text me at (302) 464-0021. If you've already taken the plunge, then we can always talk via Skype or something like it.
I know that your current situation, at some point or another, can be really hard. Just remember:
Nobody said that it would be easy, but nobody said that you had to do it alone.
Or in 200% humidity.
My response is the typical facepalm. I just wish that people would put more thought into it. Yes, you have your job, you have your annoying friends, you have whatever living situation you have, this is all true. But really, do you think that those are the things that are making your life hard? What's the thing that all of those things have in common? You. You are the constant there. And you think that moving to a different environment will change anything? Come on. That's called a geographical solution to a non-geographical problem.
Okay, so you move to Florida from here in Delaware. Awesome. So instead of being pissed about the snow, you can be pissed about the humidity. Oh well, at least it changes every twenty minutes. You hate your job at Bank of America? Thank God you got that new job down there at Citibank. Now your manager is named James instead of John, the gossip is now at a Deer Park water cooler instead of a Primo one, and your parking spot is in the middle of a 60-space parking lot as opposed to at the end of a 30-space lot. Your friends are now the guys at O'Sullivan's as opposed to Sully's complaining about Tannehill's bad game instead of the stinker that Foles had (trust me, he's not having another seven touchdown game). Everything's the same, but hey, at least you get to pay sales tax and get those hurricane shutters you've always wanted.
This happens because we don't take responsibility for what we don't like in our lives. Everything is your boss's fault just like when you were in school you would've gotten that B in English if your teacher's name couldn't be replaced by a colorful word that starts with that same letter. It's not because you didn't study, it's not because you didn't bother to read the book, it's because Ms. Smith hated you. If only you had a different teacher, you'd have gotten that full ride to Yale, right? Sound eerily similar to the same thing that your kids are saying now that finals are coming up along with the excuses for disappointing grades? The more circumstances change, the more they stay the same.
My parents' generation will tell me about how much easier life was when they were growing up in the 50's and 60's. They didn't have to worry about identity theft or terrorism, they just enjoyed their lives. You know, aside from that whole "duck-and-cover-drills-because-the-Soviets-are-going-to-nuke-us-and-this-fake-wood-desk-will-protect-me" stuff and that little Kennedy assassination thing. Other than that things were MUCH easier. We blame the times just like we blame our environments without bothering to make any changes ourselves. It's the exact opposite of Not My Fault, Not My Problem.
So, don't start packing up. Don't book that U-Haul. Don't burn your bridges on your way to the airport. Change what's here. Don't like your job? Talk to your boss. Take on different projects. Look at other positions. Don't like your friends? Talk to other people where you hang out. Don't go to the same bar/club/gym. Try something new. Take responsibility for your own life and do something about the things that you don't like instead of just doing a very expensive version of running away. That doesn't solve anything and will only get you the same life in a brand new place, not a brand new life.
I know that may sound a little harsh, but trying to escape a situation doesn't change a thing. If you don't like where you are, then stop taking the path that got you there. Do something differently. It's not the easiest thing to do, so give me a holler before making any huge decisions that could change your life without changing 104.5 from rock to Florida's top Spanish classical station. You can always contact me through this website, shoot me an e-mail, or call/text me at (302) 464-0021. If you've already taken the plunge, then we can always talk via Skype or something like it.
I know that your current situation, at some point or another, can be really hard. Just remember:
Nobody said that it would be easy, but nobody said that you had to do it alone.
Or in 200% humidity.
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