Life is a beautiful thing: We get to experience so many of the things that we really enjoy and live among extremely astonishing landscapes, even though it is contrasted with very ugly sides of life as well, but we still take from both the good and the bad in order to navigate. I'd like to think that almost everything is an argument or can be reduced to one and today's world helps prove that more and more. But as we grow and maneuver today's society we have to keep one of the I Am Root Co. mottos in mind 'Root For Each Other' --
'Most of us beat ourselves up the worst anyway.'
It is not easy to maintain a balanced lifestyle, like when you feel that you've figured one part of life out there is a whole backside that you have to study up on. Politics, Entertainment, Eating healthy, Morality, Happiness, Love, Finances, etc. these things jump out at me mostly because they are debated on a daily basis in work spaces, barber-shops, and online forums. It appears there's no right or wrong answers just more debatable facts and people yelling from the back of the room, 'What you should be doing is...' It's like everyone has an answer and it's become more important to share an answer versus sharing the best answer. I try not to over step my boundaries in spaces that I don't have to. I try not to elaborate on topics in ways that'll make me a hypocrite, a hater, a liar, or a pretentious person. I instead resolve to helping people stay rooted and connecting to the person behind the 'mask'. There is nothing more frustrating to me, than getting lectured or hearing how it should be done from someone with dirty mirrors and skeletons in their closet. We all got problems, but it's a whole other problem in itself to pretend that you have no problems at all and still know exactly how everyone should be handling theirs. In hectic times for others, practice a little empathy, then as we communicate with each other we can hit more of our targets and make a much stronger impact.
'Happiness looks different to different people.'
I like to look at us as plants and the steps necessary to ensuring that they have an enjoyable life varies. Happiness looks different to different people. We all can't be vegan, just like we all can't ride a bike or swim or be married, or drink orange juice. But those facts don't make anyone person better or more qualified than the next. With practice and conditioning, humans have the capacity to do a lot, but again everything ain't for everybody. We know that plants need water, sunlight, and soil in order to grow, but how much of each varies per plant. As people take natural steps forward in bettering their lives they'll find a healthy balance of lifestyle habits that work exclusively for them and they'll learn to make adjustments. In such a critic driven culture, I think at the very least, when looking at how a person takes care of himself or herself, we have to respect people's choices and as they experience life, allow them to make mistakes and learn from them until they get the formula right. Also we should be present in times where our peers or family members need us most. Some people will mostly get it right and others will flare up and blow-up every now and then, but these small moments in time are not enough to say 'throw the whole human away,' we should want to be empathetic to the different struggles that people face. It is really easy to become consumed by popular opinion, either we say/do things only to show that we are 'anti-popular opinion' or we become persuaded and follow the tide. There is something to be said about authenticity, so write your story in a way that represents your life and if you find yourself writing too much of someone else's pages, drop the pen.
My theme with it all is 'plant the seed and watch it grow;' as you move about, learn from experiences that you observe, find out what really works for you and figure out what you really need in your life and go from there. We talk ourselves out of opportunities, because we don't think we are good enough. We 'come for people's lives' over clips and sound bites found online. We submit to narratives that continue to rot our community and those same narratives get passed down. The hope is to try to leave this planet in better shape than it was when we got here. A good start is with communication, how we get across our feelings, intentions, opinions, and also the actions that we make in reality to support those things.