American Outliers

Okay, I'm wasting a little time watching television today.  Sometimes it's just easy and freeing to turn off the brain and tune into something a little frivolous.  Maybe a "Storage Wars" marathon, or a some DIY show, or even a freak show now and then.  Heaven knows there are plenty of those on TV these days.

I've happened onto National Geographic's series of shows under the theme, "American Outliers."  The underlying theme is that there are groups or individuals who demonstrate a lifestyle, belief system or social mores that are outside the mainstream. 

In a sense, that is what this country was founded upon - people who believed outside the norm "finding themselves" and establishing a place or community where they were free to exercise their beliefs.  We were founded by outliers who defined what it means to be American.

In a sense, as we all struggle to find ourselves and establish our identities as individuals, we're all outliers to a certain degree.  And no other place on the earth can make that claim. 

Consistency is key

"Falling off the wagon"

Maybe that should be the title of this post.  It is a tough thing to deal with though.  Sometimes we kind of "slip" off the wagon and the good habits or good progress is halted.

Whether it's a health thing or a personal development thing, maintaining that momentum is really, really, REALLY HARD.  We can't let ourselves fooled into believing that it isn't.  That is the trickster trying to get us out of improvement mode.

First of all, admitting that it's hard is not a negative affirmation.  It's REALITY.  It helps us to focus more effort on the effort.

Second, if we allow ourselves to believe it's easy, then slipping becomes not so big of a deal.  Our effort is less.  And our appreciation of our oh-so-minor achievements is probably even less.

And finally, understanding how difficult it really is to change gives us hope (and this will sound strange) that it really IS possible.  If we find ourselves going gangbusters, then failing, we are apt to give up.  Once we realize that this is not easy and that continual, consistent effort will be required, we are encouraged to get back to it.  Messing up, slipping, backsliding ... it's part of the process!  It doesn't spell the end of our journey - it's just a detour.

Now it's time to get back on track and get to gettin' about reaching those goals.

Good genes

Having good genes is such a blessing.  I mean, you generally have to play the cards you're dealt.  If you end up with a hand with losers, then it's tough to pull a winning round out of that.  So having a hand of aces is definitely a plus.

It's also well to have some strong attributes, even if you have some other less-than-stellar traits.  It's also a matter of taking what you've been given and playing to those strengths.

I've always been realistic enough to know that modeling and high-level elite athletics was not in my future.  But that's okay.  I did get some pretty darn good attributes from each gene pool.

Namely ...

Good hair

Analytical mind

Soft heart

Sense of humor

Strong teeth & bones

Decent immune system

Good manual dexterity

Above average IQ (at least that's what I've been told - maybe I was just told that and didn't have the intelligence to know the difference.  That would be ironic.)

Ability to receive and process information, learn and assimilate it

Thanks Mom and Dad.  I hope that I am making good use of those good genes.

Past, present and future

It has become apparent that the older you get, the more things start to run together, as far as time and experience goes.  It's easy to lose track of what happened and when.  Something that may seem to have taken place only a year or so ago ... it turns out that it happened five or more years ago.  Gosh, it sure doesn't seem that it was THAT long ago.

Is it a function of a "hazy brain" and do we just lose some of our mental acuity as we age?  Or is our brain only capable of retaining only so much information and memories and the like? 

Is the way that those stories and memories are imprinted so imperfect and an eventual blending is inevitable? 

Or is it just me?  I feel as though I only remember so much and that even those memories that seemed so impervious are now starting to fade.  Or is it a question of priority?  Perhaps what I used to consider a precious memory is now only a fleeting thought, making room for new memories and images that are deemed more important or vital.

All the more reason to record thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences so as to retain and preserve them.  Some minor insight in the past or present may find new luster in the future.