The history of every day
“The history of every day– What is the history of every day in your case? Look at your habits that constitute it: are they the product of innumerable little cowardices and laziness or of your courage and inventive reason?”
Nietzsche – The Gay Science
Are you the person you think you are?
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine YOU. The YOU with all your hopes, dreams, talents, and other wonderful qualities which make you unique.
Now look in the mirror. Look at the REAL YOU. Are you the same person you see when you close your eyes? If so, congratulations. This post isn’t for you.
If you’re like me, the two images bear strikingly little resemblance to one another.
The Ideal Me that I see in my mind’s eye is a successful author who is a great father and husband, works out, is in good shape, is neat and organized, motivated, and has an easygoing and carefree personality. That is how I see myself.
However, the real me is quite a bit different. I struggle at being either a great father or husband, I’ve yet to complete any of my novels, I get moody, I’m lazy (despite being a workaholic), I’m unorganized, and I’m impatient and easily annoyed. The real me would oftentimes rather be left alone than have to deal with other people. I’m like some twisted doppelganger of my intended self.
I am not who I want to be.
I’ve always told myself that there’s always time to become that person. I’ll lose weight, I’ll write those books, I’ll get organized. I’ll learn to enjoy things more. I’ve taken small steps towards those goals in recent months, however there is still so much to do.
And while I’ve always thought that there’s plenty of time to become the Ideal Me, that’s not true.
We are all given a finite amount of time on this planet. Too many of us squander that time and are never really the person we were meant to be. Eventually, you run out of time, things are left undone, and the person standing there isn’t YOU, but merely a person borne of cowardices, laziness or perhaps just delusion.
Too often, people like this come to loathe themselves. They cannot face who they’ve become, so they lash out at others. (I am not referring to myself here, but others I’ve seen this happen to).
The quote which tops this post is perhaps one of the most direct questions one can ask themselves – what is the history of your day?
Are you the person you see when you close your eyes?
If not, the more important question is – how will you rewrite your history?
(photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/1274047)
11 Responses to “The history of every day”
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BD,
This is my favorite post of yours so far. I could feel your words.
The best part:
“The real me would oftentimes rather be left alone than have to deal with other people. I’m like some twisted doppelganger of my intended self.”
Good stuff.
Thank you. That line was almost an afterthought, added during a second grammar check. I LOVE the Flickr photo, also. Woops, forgot to credit the photographer! (goes back in to edit). Thank you for the nice words.
“I’ve always told myself that there’s always time to become that person.”
Haven’t we all? The biggest problem is what I like to call detailitis, yes detailitis. This is the point where we become so engrosed in finding out all of the details of how we are going to get to where we need to be, that we do nothing instead of taking it a little at a time. This quote comes to mind:
How do you eat an elephant?…Take a small bite and start chewing!
Blogger Dad: I agree with writer dad. You have some great lines in this post. I think the same way and try to make the best of each day, hopefully learning from my mistakes without beating myself up too much over them.
I enjoy your writing as you and I have similar circumstances and similar ambitions. Thanks for posting.
Blogger Dad!
Bloody Hell.
You could have written this about me. Or if I had your talent I could have written it about myself.
If only I could develop this level of self-expression and clarity of thought!
I’m with the others, this was a fantastic line… I’m like some twisted doppelganger of my intended self.. One day that will appear as the quote at the top of someone else’s post. You mark my words.
Sal – Thank you. Yes, I know what you mean about getting so absorbed in the details that you don’t feel like doing anything afterwards. That’s why self help books and the like are so successful, publishers know that 99.99998% of people NEVER change.
Why Buy – thanks. It seems a lot of us are in the same boat, attempting to steer it right.
Dave – Thanks for the nice words. You’re a great writer. Don’t sell yourself short. You seem to have some writing experience prior to your career change. If not, I’m even more impressed.
Some of the best advice I got from my former editor was to just keep writing and re-writing, and in time, I would develop ‘my voice’. My first attempts to write column-type stuff and features weren’t in my voice yet. I was mimicking Dave Barry and it came off unnatural. Once I gave up attempting to write something that someone else was doing and just tried to perfect my own thoughts, things started working better.
I’m not where I want to be yet, which is partly behind the reason that I started this site, to get some regular writing practice for the kind of writing I want to do.
Hi Blogger Dad,
What a thought provoking post. This isn’t something I’ve given thought to, but off the top of my head (and after I close my eyes), I do know my “ideal” self gives me something to strive for.
Gotta go, it’s time to rewrite a little of my history.
Great post!
Blogger Dad, thank you for taking the time to offer feedback and encouragement. I haven’t had any formal (or informal) training as a writer and I’ve never considered that I have a ‘talent’ for writing, although I believe can write well enough not to offend too many people – and that’s good enough for now.
If I’m expecting other people to consistently read what I write, I’d like to make some improvements and that’s why I’ll be following your work closely.
I’ll also be on the look out for some good books and other resources on the subject of writing.
Cheers
Dave
Hi Barbara – thank you for the kind words. I appreciate the feedback. And from what little I know of you, you seem to be doing a good job in the first draft of your history, inspiring many many people.
Dave – thank you. Just be careful when following me too closely, as I brake suddenly when I see turtles crossing.
A great book for tips on writing well is, The Elements of Style which you can read for free online at this link. I also fill my reading diet with several quality newspapers and of course, good books. One of my favorite authors is Clive Barker, who has just an amazing grasp of language.
And all I needed to do was ask?
The Elements of style is just the thing to get me over my comma crisis!
Thanks Blogger Dad! You’re a Superduperhero.
And Blogger Dad,
DON’T forget Kate Turabian for grammar!
Rita