The Human Pickle called "Self-Improvement"

My friend and I once examined our worries on our way home from school. We did that sometimes, like all good buds, exchanging concerns and advice on both small and big problems. Luckily, this time it was only a "small" one. The young-and-dumb talking had been going on for five minutes or so, when the bus driver - for whatever reason - decided to go medieval on us in the roundabout. That moment had also been my friend's first attempt at steering the conversation toward his headache. Now, that bit of information flew right past me. I mean, I heard him just fine, but to my defense I was busy trying to get my but back in the bus seat. No, instead of catching the drift, I went on about with what we had been discussing before that monkey driver had force-introduced me to floorboard. Anyway, some minutes passed, and halfway home he revisited the topic. This time I got the point: HOLD MY CHICKEN! Did I hear right? Yes, that was indeed a double-sidetrack. Entering the same topic! I quickly realized that any other subject would be the real sidetrack, and so our conversation then became somewhat one-sided for the rest of the ride, as it should. Friends stick to their roles when the play turns sincere.
He did the talking, while I did the listening.

Now, to say that his problem was modest is not entirely true. As its dimensions goes, I estimate it was somewhere between fly-sized and all-encapsulating. Fly-sized in the sense that it did not protrude as some problem which just pops up and then heavily disrupts the flow of our daily lives. Not those maddeningly infuriating pickles like when your car breaks down or a tree falls over your house. Those may be tough depending on your situation and require time, effort and money, but thankfully they are one-time-fixes. You pluck the weed and that's that! Neither was it hard one-time-fix, like a break-up or death of somebody close. Those are worse, but we can get past them. No, his problem was considerable not because it stood out from the background (well, just enough for him to notice it), but because it had worked it's way into his fabric of being. Like a habit. All the little things we don't care to mention, but which our whole life revolves around still. Your routines are pretty much synonymous with you. In short, my friend wanted no less than to change and improve himself.

The bus ride went on and now the ball was in my court. It was time for me to share my experience and provide some useful perspective to his problem. And I think I did. After all, his expression became that of someone relieved by what they have just heard. I had shared what I considered to be an objective-no-bs view of it all. We then arrived at his stop, said goodbye and I was left to continue my ride home in solitude. But instead of being content with having helped a friend, I felt completely, utterly sick of myself. You see, I had realized that I was a complete phony!

"Why so phony?"

Not only did I have the same exact problem, but I had also just given advice on an obstacle I was unable to get across myself. In short, I felt like a real sleazy salesman. Sigh. But regardless of the fact that I had now come to realize my own inauthenticity, I knew my input had been as good as any he would ever find, even after years of searching. This confidence in my conviction was the result of now understanding that our reoccurring problem was only the spawn of a still greater fault we both shared. Which we all share. I had stumbled across the mother of all bad habits. Our incapacity to act thanks to our aversion to see our lives objectively; instead to persevere in the soothing lies we tell ourselves.

As we know, this thingy is not pretty. She puts great effort into concealing her children: all the things we know we shouldn't be doing; which lead nowhere else than to stagnation and regression in our lives. I'm talking about monsters like procrastination, or that lazy feeling we get when it's time to exercise, or the urge to watch just one more episode of our favorite show even though we should have gone to bed two hours ago. Or heck, if it's not lack of order we suffer from, then it's too much of it. It's just as bad to be an over exercised workaholic. Wherever our predisposition lies, what ultimately causes all of this - the overarching bad habit - is our failure to be straight with ourselves. We rationalize and fall into old behaviours and patterns that served us well before, but which are now outdated. All too often we simply cannot trust ourselves to know what is best for us.

The comical tragedy here is that we have always been in the know about this. I mean, you don't need me to tell you that your worst adversary is in yourself - it's not like this is news to anyone. Not really. But at the same time, it's not particularly praiseworthy knowledge, since it seems it provides only a nagging ought instead of a rouse to change. Too many of us are satisfied with merely recognizing the cause of our dismay and thus we resign to infirmity, believing that only knowing we could - if we wanted to - is good enough. HA! It is true of one who abides by the laws of proper procrastination, that he should at all times stay within reaching distance of his unfinished task, if he is to stomach himself. Hence we walk around as beasts of burden, suffering from self-imposed torment as we continue to deny, mull things over and justify our bad sides until the weight of our misery becomes too much.

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It is said that a fool that persists in his folly will become wise. A towering amount of us will at least once in out life learn this the hard way, when the world finally catches up to us and sweeps us off our feet. This happens because acted lies (e.g. bad habits) cannot sustain the happy, meaningful life. We all have some notion of what this ideal would be like, and so we can also move ourselves in the right direction and avoid the force-correction which awaits every fool. Misery, in all its degrees, is simply a hint toward the fact that one is not living in accordance with how the world really is.

Well, at least with how a human being should conduct himself in it. Our interpretation of the world is not perfect (and never will be), but it's safe to say that it is the most accurate among earth's species, at least from a Darwinist point of view. When the individual feels that he is at his beast, happy and fulfilled, it is due to him having correctly read the lines. Truth in this sense is moral at its core, meaning that human motivation is inseparable from any assessment we can draw from the universe, and shouldn't be either if the goal is a happy life. Now, to better one's interpretation of things, one must relive humanity's most priced myth. One must be the hero who leaves his comfortable, yet unyielding life behind, in order to go on into the unknown and overcome and change to something better. If he is unable to adapt to his surroundings, in other word to interpret the world and act accordingly, then he is done for. For you and me this means we should embody his most important characteristics: honesty (he is always truthful to himself) and courage (he is not afraid to fail and learn). This is the way to go in order to shed ourselves of our bad habits and settle inside improved, more true ones.

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Now, the courage part you have to figure out for yourself. Thankfully, it is not required for changing most bad habits, but is instead only needed when the time has come to make the next leap, big or small. All I will say about this is that it should be done willingly, because that way you are not on overtime. I can however, propose a solution (or trick) to our dishonesty before ourselves. This goes back to my introductory story.

My friend was not an exception to the rule. Of course he knew the answer just as well as I did, but was simply unwilling to admit so to himself. As was I, until I was forced to open my eyes in helping a friend. So, the trick is quite simply to see oneself as a friend, and give "him" the your best objective advice. I have found that this frame of mind lets me take a step back and get out of my own way.

Now it is time to move toward the concrete, which is to say that I will give myself some "friendly" advice on real, specific problems I know I should get sorted out. I have got to remember that implementation is key, probably 80% like. Good intentions usually stop where the skull ends. I should also keep in mind that taking baby steps and reaching smaller goals are the best ways to see results.

Some advice for a friend

1. First, get a schedule going

How do you imagine a constructive day? Find a pen, some paper, and jot down some times and tasks. It doesn't have to be perfect, just a draft. Even if you don't like the idea of dividing and organizing your time, you should give it a go. A schedule is not meant to be a prison, but liberate your time by making you spend it more efficiently. The focus shouldn't be toward what you have to to do, but what you want to do. And don't aim unnecessarily high. You don't want to have get caught in a relentless routine. Prioritize and give yourself some windows for margin.

2. Establish a healthy sleep pattern

Lack of sleep means bad quality all around. Your mood, work, friends - they all suffer when you burn the candle at both ends. Just make sure you go to bed in good time, ok? And don't think you can sacrifice the morning hours by lop-siding your entire cycle and staying up longer. What you didn't do today, you can do tomorrow. Remember, your resting hours are your foundation.

3. Take more responsibility

Not all of your convictions need to originate from within. Create more outside expectations, and stay accountable to those you have already established. Try harder in getting a job. Don't break appointments. Arrive on time. Call your loved ones more often. Always be ready to help your friends. Simply put, take more pride in seeing through your external duties. This will only make you better suited to fulfill those which arise on the inside.

4. Begin more projects, finish those you start

You have been steadily improving at this for a long time now, this is just a reminder to make sure you don't slack off! :) But seriously, if you find that you are better able to wrap up your undertakings, try increasing the workload. Slowly.

5. Get rid of mindless distractions

Think of all the wasted hours you've spent swiping your phone! All the YT rabbit holes! The Facebook trash feed. No wonder you can't focus on any one thing for more than a minute. Your brain has become mashed potatoes, dude, fix it.

6. Posture correction

You have done way too little to improve your stance since you became aware of your medical condition. It's affecting your whole live, man, so you better put in the work. I know it won't be easy, but just keep on doing it. You'll thank me later.

Ok. That was it. Hope you got something out of it.

@fisch out.