Can You Do Anything?

What can one do?

Anyone can accomplish whatever they want…just not whenever they want. Even simple things…like going to work, getting a job, buying a car…require effort. After a while one notices that so-called extraordinary things are no more difficult to achieve than the apparently mundane ones. One might as well do something extraordinary!

On TV and magazines they always make it out that only a few people have the ability to be great at something. They appeal to a defeatist attitude, which is seductive in its quiet message, “It’s all right to fail.”

Now, I happen to be of the opinion that it is all right to fail. What the hell: failure is a big part of life and, though not often pleasant…well, there it is. But the way that failure is popularly presented smells of provoking defeatism. It reeks of robbing people of their will. “This person is TALLENTED,” (whatever that means!), “…and you aren’t, so get back in line.”

To accomplish things one has to have patience. It is a matter of always practicing. One practices their life every day as a musician practices their instrument. Eventually, one becomes a virtuoso at life.

You have responsibilities? Excellent. In some ways this can hinder you but not as much as a lot of folks make out. Our responsibilities partially define us. Isn’t it often an honor to be relied upon?

When my daughter was born I felt liberated. Since I was fourteen my life had been about myself. When I became a father when I was 28 I was relieved of the burden of myself. My life was no longer about my comfort, my happiness, my anything. Now I lived for someone else.

I have lived an adventuresome life. This was not the end of my adventures, though it was the end of anything that I didn’t absolutely need to do.

And that made me happy.