Motivation, Change, Etc.

Lots going on these days.  Mostly in my head.  I tend to be one of those people that keeps everything in their dome, thinking, planning, and re-planning things to the point of obsession.  Some people have OCD that shows itself in the form of turning on and off the light switch, folding clothes just so, or vacuuming circles in their rugs.  I have a brain that never stops thinking, worrying, thinking, and worrying.  More times than not I make things into a bigger deal than they have to be, only because I'm not always good at getting thoughts out of my head and into action.

I'm trying to work on this.  I'm writing much more, not for others all the time, but when I can for myself.  I've got a few projects I'm working on that may never see the light of day, but in my own therapeutic way, are helping me to get my mind straight.  I've always had athletics as an outlet, but as I mature, I find that using my mind can be almost as useful.

The high school I went to stressed (when I was there at least), the use of mind and body.  There was the Greek ideal of using both thought and physicality equally to be a complete human being.  I think there isn't quite enough of that anymore.  We've got these monkey bodies that have remained unchanged for so long, with these big brains, and more times than not, we don't take advantage of how physically and mentally gifted we are.  Maybe it's a condition of the times in which we live, ripe with technology to make things easier, closer, and generally less of a hassle.  Remember when we had to actually get up to change the channel on the tv?  Or when we were actually stuck to the wall by a coiled wire when we spoke on the phone?  How did we ever manage!?  Perhaps we've just grown too soft as a species, and we lack the same primal need to express ourselves physically.

Mentally as well, how many times a day do we challenge our minds, thinking creatively.  I, personally, fall into the trap of not improvising nearly enough throughout the day.  There can be weeks on end that I find myself going through the motions, bleeding one day into the next.  When I finally "wake up" from this mind numbing coma of repetition, I'm amazed at how much time has passed and how I've virtually accomplished nothing.  I can say without a doubt, that our ancestors certainly did NOT have the freedom to have a day in which they did not, at multiple points, need to think and react to what was placed in front of them.  Fires don't make themselves.  Shelter is not always made by nature alone.  And survival is not a right, it's earned through careful thought, planning, and in some cases, luck.

Where am I going with all this?  I'm not sure.  This is just a little bit of what goes on in my mind on a daily basis.  With the coming changes, and new challenges I find in front of me, I feel revitalized in that "primal" way of improvisation and thought.  I've got the physical attributes to survive, and the skills acquired to make it happen.  Now I've just got to sharpen my mental game and display the ideals that were taught to me in my teenage years.  Damn, I knew that one of these days I'd go back to the things I learned when I was in high school...