Month: March 2022

We shouldn’t love drama. We know better…

… but secretly, we don’t care.

It’s emotional crack. A lightning bolt to our nerves that ignites our blood and rushes it… everywhere.

A dangerous, addictive hit that elevates our alive.

Separated from the source, we can see it… clear as day. Everything rational in our brain screams it’s bad for us – that we’re better-off without it. We can’t explain why we keep going. We know there are better alternatives… better ways.

… but re-exposed to drama, that fancy thought’s crushed by sheer sensation of stimulation. By the adrenaline spikes made of mystery, intrigue, uncertainty, struggle and hope that excite and override. FUCK does it feel.

Sure there are better options… but none as exciting. None as captivating.

Even if it’s bad, it’s emotional proof we’re alive. It might be hard, but better alive than just existing.

Of course, we never say it aloud. Not a great look.

Outwardly, we’re

🤔 🙄

… but inwardly,

😏 🙃

It’s been a helluva day.

You’re exhausted, work was 💩, you just realized you’ve immediately gotta do something you really don’t want to, your car’s making a sound you know’s not good… the world’s piling on. But then you come home, walk to the door…

… boom: excited borks, frenzied paw steps tapping inside…

Smile overcomes, inner warmth surges, anticipation spikes, you open the door…

… and there they are: goodest of doggos.

Your return sparks a manic joy so fierce it powers wags that shake their body to dance. They literally collapse-in on themselves in desperate efforts to be near you. They’ve missed you to the point of joygasm.

No judgment. No games. No bullshit. Just pure, real love.

You take a moment, wishing you could enjoy anything that much and basking in the refreshment of their presence. Suddenly, almost magically, your day’s better.

It’s so much good at once: soothing, gratifying, centering, enlivening.

You’re their world. Their sun, moon, stars and sky. Everything.

You’re their hooman.

You feel it most curled up with them at night. In your PJs, the day done, in that golden hour where you don’t have to do anything but be. Their head nuzzled in your lap, time standing still as you pet-n’-cuddle their eyes closed, when suddenly they exhale that dramatically-contented sigh letting you know all’s right in the world.

And in those moments, it is.

One of the worst parts of being a writer right now is having to constantly fight the attention span clock.

You have to be mindful of every second it takes for someone to read your material. The more you give to process, the less likely it’ll get processed. Potential distraction and boredom lurk in every moment.

Most of us writers have a lot to say – it’s a requirement of the gig. Not to mention that some of what we want to write about just isn’t simple enough to cover in 5-second-to-3-minute reads.

The things truly worth understanding take longer than that to explore. Nothing worth having or knowing comes easy.

But it is what it is, so we adapt.

… but this is one of the things that’s poisoning communication and shredding civilization. It’s a huge part of why we’re so on-edge and tribalistic.

If we can’t take the time to pay full, quality attention to something, we’re not going to meaningfully understand it. We’ll only get the bits & pieces soundbites, clipped video and other multi-second exposures reveal… which ain’t much, and ain’t enough.

Add to that we usually only pay attention to what fits with our narrow, feelings-charged worldview and our perspective gets even smaller.

What makes this attention-starved ignorance really dangerous, though, is that it’s coupled with an epidemic of over-confidence.

At the same time attention span and holistic understanding are at all-time lows, self-confidence in opinion and certainty of rightness are at all-time, nigh-narcissistic highs. Because feelings, regardless of the attention we haven’t paid or research we haven’t done, we somehow magically, emphatically believe ours is the right understanding – ultimate truth.

And it’s all capped with a passive-aggressive, faux-“tolerance” – “Look I’m totally open-minded and mature cuz I’m awesome… it’s just that ur wrong and stupid and ur thinking needs to change lol.”

😬

Yeah, no. Try again.