Let me see if I can crystallize this…[1]
The path is not a competition, with others or self. It’s just a fucking path. Walk it or don’t, but don’t think there’s any kind of winning involved.
Accomplishment should be intensely personal. Those who will know about it by proximity are really the only ones that need to know.
If one listens to sycophants, one must give equal time to critics. Best, if possible, to ignore both (except for required civility).
If it’s hard and level and predictable, it’s not the path; it's a sidewalk. Turn left (metaphorically speaking) now.
Figure out what you’d bleed for and you’re on the way to figuring out your path. Besides, if you bleed, it’s a sport, and everything sporty is more fun.
Scars are tattoos that you earn.[2]
We do not fall so that we can learn how to get up. We fall because we trip, or drink too much, or get hit on the head. If you can learn to get up from falling, good on ya, but that’s not why you fell. Shit just happens sometimes.
Everything’s eventual, so don’t panic. A mountain in the way just means you have to switch to climbing shoes. Think of it as a great thing, like an unbirthday present.
The shortest distance between two points is fucking boring anyway.[3]
Climbing teaches us that falling doesn’t hurt. It’s the landing that does that. You’ll either survive the landing and get to quote Nietzsche for the rest of your life in an intensely personal way, or you won’t survive and, subsequently, won’t give a damn.
The journey means that mile markers are quaint novelties, not something to dance about. Mile markers just say “I’ve come this far”, but the truth is that they also mean there’s farther to go. The only one worth dancing about is the one that says “The End”.
There isn’t a mile marker that says “The End”. Not one we get to see anyway.
If you need a reason to dance, dance about the love you’ve given and received. It’s the best motivation anyway.
One of the best things about the no winning and no ending concepts is that you never lose and you always have more time to learn and grow. And that’s all that matters.[4]
[1] Just for me, of course. I’m not referencing anything specifically except the bumper sticker, but chances are I’m plagiarizing something because, frankly, it’s all been said. So I claim nothing as original here, at all. Read at your own risk.
[2] My favorite bumper sticker. Ever. Even more than the one on my laptop: Kill your television
[3] Very sure I read this somewhere. Just can’t remember for the life of me where.
[4] Just, of course, my opinion. What the fuck do I know… J
