The problem with society today is that we are in a constant battle of doing more and doing it quickly. From the start, man has continued to evolve over the years. We’ve quickly grown from prehistoric times during the days of rubbing stones together to create fire, to no longer needing to hunt to gather food and in recent times our growth in technology and business. However, as a result of this change, we have lost touch with some of the things that make us human. We have grown into a society where all we do is consume, consume, consume. Rarely really thinking of how to give back or the long term effects of our consumption. We have lost touch on what really matters to us. The simple things in life.
We have created an imbalance in life where the ones who are on the bottom spend their whole lives struggling just to get ahead. We live in constant misery from chasing the things we’re told is needed in life to make us happy. We work jobs we hate slaving away for someone else’s cause. Creating comfort in our own misery and afraid to branch out and do what matters to us out of fear of the hard work or most likely fear of failure. The funny thing about all of this is that the masses are the ones who have created this system due to conformity. Afraid to stand out and be different. Afraid to let your voices be heard and stand as one. Everything that we face in life is due to the fact that the masses have chosen to let someone else dictate all aspects of our lives due to the idea of convenience, doing things quicker. Not thinking of long term repercussions. Failing to realize that we are just lining the pockets of the ones on top and doing ourselves an injustice. Reasons like these are why we can’t trust our foods because of high levels of chemicals in them. Junk foods that are marketed to us as healthy but setting us backwards in our health goals. Fast fashion and the amount of textile waste and pollution caused by it. And lastly, our delusion that social media is really connecting us rather that the biggest research program ever developed.
Now I don’t want to be a hypocrite and point blame because I too participated in all this and had no clue in what I was doing to not only myself, but to others and most importantly my overall impact on the world! I took a good look at myself and the struggle I was going through to achieve things I didn’t necessarily need. I needed to make a change in my life and do things that mattered with a positive impact. This is why I needed to actually start taking the time to do things in life. Learn to cook, eat well, exercise, learn to grow some of my own food, or make some of the things I want vs always buying it. I realized that taking your time to do things and learn something in the process is all part of being human. When we start taking too many shortcuts and wanting everything done so quickly, we miss things along the way. We miss moments to bond and learn something new. We lose the love of craft because we feel as though it takes too long forgetting what can be gained if we just took our time and just flow with life.
In writing this post I had no plan coming into this. This past week has been a struggle for me and one long ass week rolling into another one. Its made me look at our lives and the hurdles everyday hardworking people have to go through to get ahead in life and it just made me sick. My mind has been a roadblock of unhappiness and in a pissed off state of mind and I’m tired of feeling this way. I fell into a woe is me moment and it stopped me from progressing. Stopped me from drawing from writing and even cooking. I don’t want to give into the struggle. I refuse to. I want this blog to succeed because I believe in it. I know I’m still in the phase of self-discovery and pulling my plans together but the struggles of everyday life shouldn’t stop me from putting my all into the fight. And this should be the same for you. Don’t live a life of chasing the dreams of others, chase your own dreams. Break free from the struggle and put the struggle into yourself and building the life you want for you.
The purpose of this blog is not only to show you how to create and make things, taking your time to learn and grow. But also to share some of my outdoor adventures and places to visit as my quest to get more people outside and active continues (mind you this is coming from the laziest person ever). In time I eventually want to give a voice to the little guy, the small businesses owners who get no recognition due to the not enough exposure and corporate companies outshining them. The local business owners and some major companies who actually give back and have people in mind. Not just their consumers but workers as well. I know this is a lot that I want to accomplish but this is part of the beautiful struggle that I chose to put on myself. I want to spread knowledge in a way that gives back. Yes, life is hard and is a struggle but it doesn’t have to be a struggle for the wrong reasons. We don’t have to become comfortable in our discomfort. I know change takes time and doesn’t happen overnight, but if enough people work together towards to same common goal of treating people right, building local businesses, taking part in slowly down a bit versus being in a constant hurry we can still accomplish great things.
Overall I don’t want to sound as though I’m anti big business because there are some out there that do astounding work for different communities around the world. What I am against are the companies who all they do is take and take and take, giving nothing back, robbing impoverished countries of their dignities and livelihood by paying them next to nothing while causing harm to the environment. The companies who force their workers in this country, to work long unnecessary hours, taking time away from their families yet not earning fair wages and making it next to impossible to get ahead without putting years and years of service. I am against the idea that the everyday America can’t make it through life earning minimum wage because everything is so expensive and are forced to make sacrifices just to attain everyday necessities. We don’t have to settle for a life like this. In time we can make a change little by little, one day at a time. Yes, life is a struggle but it can be a beautiful struggle if we work towards the things that mattered in life.