I also made plans that night with my friend, Karinna, to go and see The Hunger Games: The Mockingjay, Part 2. Since it was opening weekend we thought it would be a good idea to get there early to buy the tickets. Once we bought the tickets we decided to go to a pub that was right by the theater to wait until the movie started.
We both enjoyed a drink and the extra time we had to catch up with each other. We then went and watched the movie which we both thoroughly enjoyed. It had been quite a fun night, but for some reason I had started to have these feelings of I wish I was "normal". Because if I was "normal" then I would be able to get married to a beautiful woman. I would be able to have my own children and I would be able to be looked at by others as "normal"
As I sit here writing this post I ponder on what normal is. What does normal look like? What is normal and why do so many people, including myself, want to be "normal"? Last night I was watching a movie with some friends. We watched The Imitation Game, a movie that I had seen a few times before. It is a great movie. There is a scene in that movie that I wanted to share. Here is a short 2 min clip of it. Spoiler alert if you haven't already seen this movie. (Sorry about the subtitles, it is the only clip I could find)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev1fhavHFOE
Being "normal" (whatever normal might be) doesn't mean that you will be happy. Happiness is a state of mind. With that said, and with Thanksgiving around the corner, I would just like to say that I am incredibly grateful for my family and friends and for the unconditional love I feel from you all. You all have made my journey in life that much easier and better.
Posts like these aren't the easiest for me to write because I can sometimes have a hard time opening up like this. In spite of that, I know this is helpful for me to put my feelings down in writing.
Here is to everyone being themselves, and to not worry so much about being NORMAL!!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone
Happy Thanksgiving!!
ReplyDeleteLove the post Kevin!
ReplyDeleteThis very thing has been on my mind in a different format. It is easy to think "I will be happy when...” or "I would happy if...”, but deep down we know that achievement alone is not a road to happiness. I have had a few friends that truly believed that they would be so much happier if they were married or had someone to be with, only to find out after obtaining this treasured desire that it had no real effect on their overall happiness.
It always seems easier to see these errors when we are looking outward and this was the case for me. It took a long and emotionally draining (in a good way) conversation to help me realize that I had been doing this very thing in my own life. It was at this moment that I started to understand that I had been waiting to be happier. What was I waiting for? Well in my case it was losing weight and being healthier. “I would be so much happier if I would lose weight and get in better shape”. The reason this type of falsehood is easy to get caught up in is simple, it’s partly true! However the way I was applying it was all wrong. Anytime we rely on some outside source to bring happiness we will reach it only to find out that our problems still bring us down. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that our actions will have a positive or negative outcome in our life. The real point I am getting at is life rarely turns out the way we think it will. To make things worst we are all incapable achieving perfection, which means we are going to fall short and make mistakes, probably more often than not. That is why we have to find a way to be happy with the journey and our current place within that journey.
There just isn’t a short cut to finding happiness. It is a lifelong pursuit that never really ends. Even when we think we have found it, life will come along and challenge that state. That is one thing we can be sure of. Finding a way to be happy in spite of it all is life’s real test.
I am proud to call you my brother Kevin and I am constantly impressed with your desire to improve yourself. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Love ya!
Gary
Thanks Gary! I enjoyed reading your thoughts. They are great. Love you
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