Don't Complain. Change.

"However mean your life is, meet it and live it: do not shun it and call it hard names." -Thoreau

I tend to see life through the eyes of a cynic. We are, as a whole, a cynical generation. I remember getting bikes throughout my childhood. I was a Huffy man. I remember looking at my new bikes with my slanted Asian eyes, eyes that to this day that raise questions of my nationality, and I knew that before long this bike would look just like the old one I had, the one that in just a few days would be put out to pasture along with random washer and dryer combos and an old 1972 Chevy, the same Chevy that just the summer before I had used as target practice with my BB gun, sharpening my ever evolving sniper skills. It was like I couldn’t enjoy it. I knew that eventually the elements would get to it. The chrome would lose its shine and become rusted. The chain would begin to slip. You get the idea.

We grow up conditioned to the idea that something negative is around the corner. We call it being a “realist.” We all, from time to time, find ourselves as George from the sitcom Seinfeld, always looking at the negative things that exist within the positive things happening in our lives, scheming and worrying ourselves to death or in some cases, as in the case of George Costanza, bald.

I’m not saying that bad things aren’t out there because they are. Over the past few months, I have had three jobs opportunities fall through, one of which I have been paying my dues volunteering for almost five years. My wife was told her job was in jeopardy due to state budget cuts yet again. Our home was robbed. The list goes on and on. Life has no qualms with kicking you while you are down. It isn’t hard to find something to complain about, but that isn’t how I want to live.

It is easy to say that everything happens for a reason as long as what is happening is a good thing. We find it much harder to apply the same reason of thinking when your house is robbed or when Nick Jonas doesn’t respond to your @ reply.

I believe that people who complain all the time have stunted their character growth. I’m not talking about the occasional rant; I’m talking about the person who would rather gripe about their problems than get off their butt and do something about them. If you can’t afford your house, then sell it. If you are tired of not being able to bend over and tie your shoes without getting lightheaded, then get off the couch, put down the Oreos, and get active. If you are in a dead-end job, quit and find another one. If you get turned down at the first interview, line up another one. If your friends are dragging you down, drop them. If your dog has gas, stop feeding it so much cheese and left over Hormel chili.

It is easy just to let life happen to you and grow old and cynical. Taking action, on the other hand, is much harder. I’m going to take a step back and look at my life. I am going to assess the things I don’t like about myself, and I’m going to do my best to change. Furthermore, I am going to be proactive about changing situations that drag me down. Hopefully, if you’re reading this, you will do it with me.

"Do not be critics, you people, I beg you. I was a critic and I wish I could take it all back because it came from a smelly and ignorant place in me, and spoke with a voice that was all rage and envy. Do not dismiss a book until you have written one, and do not dismiss a movie until you have made one, and do not dismiss a person until you have met them."-- David Eggers

The play list this was written to consisted of “Dismantle. Repair” by Anberlin, “Something Good Comes This Way” by Jakob Dylan, “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” by The Smiths, “re: Stacks” by Bon Iver, and “Float On” by Modest Mouse.