Through My Eyes: Things Chosen and Things Not Chosen!
The choices we make in life are sometimes difficult to arrive at. That is, when you are trying to make informed and conscious choices, the possibilities sometimes spin a little out of control.
I was trying to capture the golden light of evening. The passing crow was completely accidental!
As a dear friend once pointed out, choosing one thing is not just about choosing that thing, it's also about not choosing all the things that you forego because you choose a specific direction rather than leaving all your options open.
What do we choose? How do we choose? What is actually informing our choices? And are those choices actually ours, or are they merely imprints from the external world?
I sometimes consider that when I was little and answering the proverbial "So, what do you want to be when you grow up?" question... the adults would laugh and pat me on my head when I replied that I wanted to "write stories" (be a writer) while they would praise me and be impressed if I replied that I wanted to be "director of the National Bank of Denmark."
I really wanted the former, but learned that the latter resulted in my being left in peace.
As regulars to these pages probably have figured out by now, I chose the "creative path." Which, of course, has been filled with challenges and difficulties. As I was "warned about," by well-meaning people.
Heck, until she passed away in her late 80's, my own mother would regularly ask me when I was planning to get a real job!
So here's the thing:
There's definitely something ironic about the fact that when you choose the path of quiet beauty and creativity and art and being in the moment and quiet times, they are quite openly "declared" by society to have no real value.
And yet? That very same society has built a huge industry around selling books and seminars and wisdom to teach the "majority" of the population the very things that it is declaring to have little or no value!
How on Earth does that make sense?
It would be tempting to "blame" something/someone... but the only real blame that makes sense is called "The Industrial Revolution" which was responsible for making us all slaves to clocks and schedules, rather than simply flowing with the natural cycles of seasons, weather and days.
As for the whole "are we better off/worse off" argument that invariably accompanies this particular rabbit hole? I'm going to respectfully leave that one alone!
In looking back, I'm glad I didn't choose to go to work for a bank, or finance company. I have a lovely Finance degree from a highly respected Business School... that I never used for anything. And that's OK!
Instead, I have spent 40+ years involved in a very random jumble of things that interested me at the time, and somehow, I am still here. A little worried, perhaps, that I will never be able to actually retire, but I am still here.
And I still don't have a good answer to the question "So, what do you DO?"
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!
Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!
Greetings bloggers and social content creators! This article was created via PeakD, a blogging application that's part of the Hive Social Content Experience. If you're a blogger, writer, poet, artist, vlogger, musician or other creative content wizard, come join us! Hive is a little "different" because it's not run by a "company;" it operates via the consensus of its users and your content can't be banned, censored, taken down or demonetized. And that COUNTS for something, in these uncertain times! So if you're ready for the next generation of social content where YOU retain ownership and control, come by and learn about Hive and make an account!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly and uniquely for this platform — NOT posted anywhere else!)
Created at 2023-09-15 23:56 PDT
0938/2193
I believe that creative work has multiple advantages, although many do not see it, it is true that retirement worries, but when you see that many retirees still have to continue working because they do not have enough, you free yourself a little.
The advantages: being able to create your own schedule, not having to deal with bosses, having a variety of activities and not the daily routine load, there is less stagnation and being more active in the brain augurs a happier old age.
I don't have the slightest doubt that all our choices are indeed mere imprints from the external world.
And yet, these same "values" are exactly what they and the society in general is pursuing to get in the end. Isn't it?
Isn't this ironic? LoL
And meanwhile, we the mindful and wiser, swimming countercurrent through this mighty fast-flowing river of hypocrisy to arrive before them to where they themselves want to go and stay forever. tsk tsk
That only makes sense while they keep just "imagining" but not know for sure what it means simply flowing with the natural cycles of seasons, weather and days like us.
And yeah, we are still here. And the most likely is that they never will!