“November 1: I think I need to take it easier on myself.”
My tickler is full of reminders I give myself on red-letter holidays; reminders I don’t usually follow because I either forget, or I don’t follow my own advice. On my birthday, I reminded myself to quit smoking. Valentine’s Day, I reminded myself to take it easy on the drink. A friend had to lay it on me on this red-letter day: I take too much joy in self-mortification. It seems that I’m at my best when I’m depressed. Although it’s what she said afterward that really hit hard: what would I become at my worst?
It’s the first of November, and everywhere I see changes, mostly from my friends who are more than willing and able to change their lives for the better. A friend underwent surgery to lose weight. An acquaintance voluntarily entered a rehab program. Still another friend gave up her career to pursue her dreams of becoming a doctor. Oh sure, I’ve gone through many changes, but I still can’t stand to look at that face in the mirror.
Life has to mean more than the slow – if not sudden – progression towards death. I’m only 24 years old, but I put myself into perspective. I could very well be breathing with one lung. Maybe I’m metabolizing with one dysfunctional lobe of my liver. Maybe my eyes and nerves degenerating faster than what the doctors surmised; no thanks to every vice and addiction deemed acceptable by society. Maybe I am taking it too hard on myself at times. All the time.
That would have been okay, if only I highlight and underscore reasons to live life to the fullest, more than I do reasons to live it at its barest minimum. Life doesn’t stop short of reasons – and people who bear those reasons – for me to look forward to the next day.
In time, I think I’ll be able to give up a lot of the things that drag me down, pull myself back together, and set my life back into the straight and narrow. It’s a good thing I gave myself room to make as clean a slate as possible, where I can put my life back into order and make something of it. Maybe there’s an avenue where I can really try my very best at.
It’s November 1, where we usually remember the dead. I guess for now, I have to remember living.
at 9:42 pm
Really, really liked this
at 6:18 pm
Early quarter life crisis. Don’t worry things will get better. Hugz.
at 8:27 pm
i haven’t been following all of your posts, but of all the ones i’ve read, this one seems to be the most earnest.
you do sound a bit like you’re whining, but you also sound like you’re challenging yourself… kudos to the latter. ^^
i tend to enjoy self-mortification myself, so i sort of know what you mean. it gets old pretty quickly; there’s only so much blame you can lay on yourself. sometimes you need to relax, loosen up a bit. it’s good that you took time out to reflect… it’s better that you have friends who are willing to drag you out of yourself.
i dunno why, but i remembered virginia woolf’s essay about that moth who struggled before dying. i guess this piece has some note of struggle in it somewhere… a struggle against entrenched habits? against stagnation? against lethargy? maybe i’m reading too much into it. in the end, i’m glad this isn’t a typical november 1 post. hooray for redemption (if you could call it that ^^).
at 8:32 pm
Tina:
I like whining, LOL.
Anyway thanks for the positive response. I just despise long weekends for the reflection that’s in it.
at 8:37 pm
so it’s official: you’re a whiner. *lol* kidding.
yeah, whining is fun. and wallowing, too. can’t indulge too much in either though. XD
at 8:38 pm
Yep, whining is temporary. After you whine, you redeem.
at 8:44 pm
“after you whine, you redeem.” i’ll remember that. ^^ quotable quote? hehe.
at 12:13 am
As always, great writing