A common saying is that life is a long river that we slowly drift down. Missing all the important, nice thing's in the water because were so busy trying to keep afloat. And that sometimes the current can get rough, and other time's it can be peaceful and lovely.
That's one perspective.
But as we all know, they're are an infinite amount of perspective's in the universe.
I prefer to think of life as a giant open field.
A huge green one that's full of cow's and daffodils and stinging nettles.
And those big round hay ball's that people climb up on and take pictures.
So instead of this river that you float down, unaware of your own movements, and knowing that you'll move down it anyway, regardless of whether you try or not (e.g. fate) it is instead up to you to move around this field.
Exploring and finding your own way around.
In the end it's useless, it's only a fucking field and field's aren't really exciting.
But in your time in this field, you will look upon everything from various different points. Different perspectives you may say.
You will first look at the cow's in the field from head on, you facing them, them facing you. You will be scared of them at first, as they look scary and new and powerful. They could hurt you. You don't know how they're gonna act around you. But you will learn to love them. And they will learn to love you.
You will stroke their nose and smile at them, and swear that they're smiling back.
You will never know for sure as you don't really know how a cow smiles. But you don't need to really know, not deep down.
Then, eventually, some of the cows will turn their backs on you, and shit all over your shoes as they walk away. You will squirm, and notice that cow's look fucking disgusting from behind. Not the pretty cute cow faces that you saw before.
The cow's aren't really cow's at all. The cows are the people, and interactions, in your life. Family, friends, lovers.
In the meantime, you've also noticed a beautiful glint of yellow from the corner of your eye. It's a daffodil. It's even more beautiful than the cow's. It's more intricate and pretty than anything you've ever seen before. It's both delicate and invincible at the same time. You want to care for it, and touch it and feel it in your hands. You instinctively want it to be yours.
So you pick it.
You pluck it out of the ground, and hold this amazing, simple, beautful thing in your hands. Your head suddenly fills with amazingly happy thought's, and for a split second you don't notice the rank smell of shit on your shoes. You forget that you're even stood in a field.
But then the thoughts in your head begin to leave, to deteriorate. The daffodil is dying. You killed it, and it's slowly turning into a brown shadow of what it once was. Up close it's not beautiful anymore. It's ugly.
You throw it on the ground and run.
The daffodil represents art, beauty, inspiration. It's the thing's that you love with everything you have. In fact, it is love.
You try to get as far away from the daffodil as possible, but in your rush you fall into a huge bush of stinging nettles. There's a stabbing pain in your leg as you curse yourself for wearing short's. At first you're unsure of how stinging nettles really work. I mean, you've never seen them before! So you stand there, in the stinging nettles, confused and trying to figure out what's going on. You think about the cow's and the daffodils, maybe they've got something to do with it.
Then it dawns on you. This harmless looking flora must have stung you deep in your leg somehow. The fucker.
And the worst bit? When you get out of the nettles, the leg starts to itch. A temporary reminder that will stay with you for as long as you think about it. However as soon as you forget about that stinging, and think about something else, you slowly forget that it was ever hurting in the first place.
I mean, your now aware of what it does, but you kinda forget how it felt.
Interesting.
The stinging nettles are pain. Whether it be grief, misery, or a sickness. There's a shit load of stinging nettles in the field.
As you turn around and now knowingly look at the back of those stinging nettles, you notice that the shit on your shoe's has been wiped off by all the leaves.
Silver lining.
And of course, to finish off, we have the giant hay bales. The huge fuckers that seemed quite small, interesting and exciting from when you first looked at them all that time ago, during your primary steps in the field. Now they're massive. And because you have a burning curiosity you know that you're gonna have to climb them soon. Shit.
You doubt yourself. When comparing these huge monsters to everything else in the field, all those other things seem meaningless.
It is now when you have 2 choices.
1. You take on the hay bale full on. Gripping at it's side and trying to haul yourself to the top. You probably will fall, but then you'll just get up and try again.
Or 2. You'll do what most of us do and turn around. Trying not to think about the hay bales. Thinking instead of the beautiful daffodil and the smiling cow. You may even take another look at those things, and notice that they look a lot smaller now that you're further away.
The hay bale will never get smaller however. Everytime you look at it, no matter how far away you are, you will always remember it as a huge monster.
The hay bales are our goals and ambitions in life. Our "point" one might say. The size of them will depend on you as a person, cuz let's not forget, this story is in your head. I write a few words, but you're the one that fills in the blanks. The bigger they are, the more anxious you are about your goals and what you want to do. The smaller, then the more ready you are to take them on.
Throughout your journey in the field you have seen many things, from many different points of view. And you have been the one who has made that journey. You've walked away from the cow's and the daffodils and into the stinging nettles, not because you wanted to, but because you had to.
There is something deep down that gives you the desire to fucking run around this field as much as you can.
Follow. That. Instinct.
