Quiet Please...

Whenever someone writes something about a song it usually prompts people to tune it out. A song can speak to us in our own special way that no one else may understand. Though we want to share the experience we really can't. That's my disclaimer here because I feel the need to pseudo-quote a song by The Zac Brown Band... Quiet Your Mind. Improper citing aside, it's something that I think is really important. Don't think I want you to listen to it or whatever. I really only mention the song because I can't claim credit for all the words. Only the thought behind my interest in the topic.

My life is pretty darn simple. I wake up, go to class, fly, go to another class, go to work on the weekends for a brainless job and it starts all over again. I have no real baggage and every opportunity to do anything I want in my life. That being said, I can't stop my damn mind from thinking about things. I'm trying to get ready for my final checkride to finish this flight school and all I can think about when I'm flying is how friggin awesome it is going to be when I finally get out of here. I have four days left to wrap up the entire past two years and I can't seem to relax. Maybe it's a good thing.

I notice a lot of people in other predicaments in their life doing something similar. They can't stop. If it's not socializing or running around it's thinking about what's next and how they can be involved in more than they can chew at one time. Sometimes people focus on the completely wrong things and waste a lot of talent and resource on a life that is less than fulfilling. For this, I am a big proponent of taking time to yourself and thinking about absolutely nothing. It's a difficult thing to do but leaving your phone at home and going for a good two hour walk by yourself can do wonders. Walk aimlessly and without regard to time.

Doing something as simple as a walk alone can make you realize that you can actually function as a human being without having to rely on a life set forth by your perception of what other people want from you. You decide your fate and you make the decisions that make you who you are. The influences that you allow in your life should have little bearing on your success or failure. As the song says, 'soak it all in, it's a game you can't win, enjoy the ride.' When all is said and done the only thing important about your life is the impact you will have on future generations. Whatever mankind's purpose is here will probably always be a mystery but you might as well make the best of what you got and make it enjoyable for not only yourself but for others.

Something that happens in my life that makes me think of this concept is that I feel if I spend too much time with myself in my own head that I'll lose touch with everything around me. On the contrary though. Though I understand it for myself I still find it hard to let go of things that I feel I need to be involved with. People more specifically. It never fails that I realize my presence in other's lives is nothing what I hoped it'd be. People care on a different level than I do and I end up wasting a lot of time and effort being something that they don't need. I lose people in my life that way. I become less interesting of a person when I allow myself to become consumed by the false expectations I give myself about co-existing with other people. If someone (or the plural of the same) wants to be in my life, they are there whether I try or not. Same as any accomplishment or goal, if I was meant to do it, it usually happens anyways. Funny how things like that work. It even happens with money. I've been at periods in my life where I was scrounging for change in the proverbial couch of my life but when it came down to the wire, something always seemed to come through. It wasn't fun but it was usually when I resigned myself to letting things happen as they should that everything started working out.

Success of course comes with hard work and determination. The saying includes nothing about driving yourself crazy trying to please everyone and losing yourself in worthless emotions. Step back, take a look at yourself and find a way to get humbled. Works every time...