Category: Maturity

Life Lessons, Maturity, Organization

Unquantifiable

My sixth meeting of the day found me in a professor’s office as he went over the specifics of a group project.  As my professor droned, I was quickly attempting to create a mental spreadsheet and time chart to accomplish the goal at hand.  Until he interrupted my flying thoughts with a simple statement:

“The way we are going to do this will be a lot more fun, but its a lot less structured.”

I couldn’t wrap my mind around it at first.  Less structure means more chaos and variables, not more fun.  Fun comes only when there is organization to channel it and make sure it meets all the specifications for enjoyment.  As soon as I thought that, I knew I had lost sight of something very important in life.

There is not pattern to follow.  Life is not defined by chores being accomplished.  It can’t be quantified, thus comparison to others is pointless.  The parts of life that I enjoy most aren’t the things that I completely understand, but rather, the ones that I have to work to figure out.

Life Lessons, Maturity

Fine Lines

It’s easy to picture life as a balancing act on a tightrope.  Just you, two buildings, a long rope, and dizzying heights.  I’ve always been partial to this analogy.  There is a thrill in trying to balance, a sense of accomplishment when you manage to stay upright, and worse comes to worst, falling can be rather fun too–once you get over the initial shock of your life falling apart.  And you can always pick yourself up and try again.

As comforting (or scary) as that mental image might be, I think it might be oversimplifying things a bit.  Life isn’t just one tightrope, it is an intricate web of fine lines.

There is a fine line between contentment and apathy.

Between confidence and arrogance.

Insecurity and pride.
Self-awareness and self-obsession.
Optimism and misplaced hope.
Kindness and manipulation.
Patience and cowardice.
Self-protection and selfishness.
Trust and naivety.
Discernment and judgment.

There are so many fine lines weaving in and out of each other.  In a way, they make it easier to stay balanced, when you have a web of ropes to walk on instead of just one.  Yet it feels
impossible to maintain a healthy balance in one area of life without crossing a line in another.

I have no resolution to this post, because I don’t know how to walk on one tightrope, let along a couple dozen.   You see, there is also a fine line between thinking to understand life and thinking to avoid life.  I may not be able to get far without falling, but I’d rather fall than get tangled in the web.