I was reading this long letter here that was shared on my company slack account, this line stood out for me.
Naturally, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’ve lived a relatively narrow life, a vertical rather than a horizontal existence. So it isn’t any too difficult to understand why you seem to feel the way you do. But a man who procrastinates in his CHOOSING will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.
A very intriguing letter by Hunter S. Thompson in April of 1958 when he was 22. The amount of maturity and the thought put into writing is very deep and profound. I would suggest you spend the time reading it. I would say, you may want to ponder on this even more than just reading the letter. I would like to quote a few more portions of it, but I don’t want to copy-paste the entire letter here.
The use of the word “procrastinates” surprised me a little bit. If my life is a path that I choose for myself and I am constantly learning and evolving, when or how do I know that I have procrastinated. Also if I have picked my path only at 30 does that mean I have procrastinated for 30 years? Haven’t those 30 years of experience define who I am how I how chose my path?
I don’t know if there is a definitive answer to this. If you have any, I would love to hear them. None the less, please do yourself a favour and read this letter your self.
” Just because I liked something at one point in time doesn’t mean I’ll always like it, or that I have to go on liking it at all points in time as an unthinking act of loyalty to who I am as a person, based solely on who I was as a person. To be loyal to myself is to allow myself to grow and change, and challenge who I am and what I think. The only thing I am for sure is unsure, and this means I’m growing, and not stagnant or shrinking.” ― Jarod Kintz
Its all consumerism
Most of us treat our money this way. The more we make, the more we spend. It’s not that we suddenly need to buy more just because we make more, only that we can, so we do. In fact, it’s quite difficult for us to avoid increasing our standard of living (or at least our rate of spending) every time we get a raise.
I don’t think it’s necessary to shun the whole ugly system and go live in the woods, pretending to be a deaf-mute, as Holden Caulfield often fantasized. But we could certainly do well to understand what big commerce really wants us to be. They’ve been working for decades to create millions of ideal consumers, and they have succeeded. Unless you’re a real anomaly, your lifestyle has already been designed.
The entire article is a good read, please read the complete story here. The article is one such peice which makes you stop and think about consumerism. Probably take a step back and realize what the whole point of life is, where we are headed, to take a look at the bigger picture of life, to realize where the limits are, to understand where fruitful life is and to get the essence of life. Hope the article inspires you to ponder and realize where you are headed, how deep in the consumerism soup you are and what you actually seek.
