Truth O'Clock

EVERY single one of us wants happiness. Even you, so don’t deny it. If you want to be miserable, then there’s your happiness right there. Good for you, some people are deliriously happy being miserable. The rest of us, we want the typical picture of happiness. You know? Love and everything that goes with it. Maybe that’s travelling the world with that special person. Or settling down, with the house, the garden, the kids, the dog. Making music. Making art. Growing flowers. Maybe it’s none of that. We’re all different, and all want or need different things to make us feel happy.

But go with me for a minute…

You are a passenger on an airplane flying through the sky,  when suddenly there’s a loud bang. The lights flicker. The smell of smoke fills the air. A woman screams, and there’s a baby crying. The oxygen mask drops in front of your face. You stare at the terrified faces of the people around you, sharing this horrible experience, as you feel yourself plummeting to your death. But then, you notice the screen in front of you. The film is still playing. You’ve seen this one before and it’s at your favourite part. This is the part where the guy realises that the girl still loves him, and that everything she did, was because of this love. It all makes sense now, and they embrace. You look at the girl sitting next to you, she’s staring intently at the screen, and it’s obvious she enjoys this film too. Your phone beeps with a text message from your ex that reads ‘Miss you. Wanna meet?’. You roll your eyes as you press the delete button. Now there’s a new smell in the air. Peanuts. The girl sitting next to you is eating YOUR peanuts. That cheeky bitch. She said she didn’t want any, but now she’s eating YOURS. If she wanted peanuts, she should have asked for her own fucking peanuts. She licks her salty fingers and you find yourself wishing you had fingers like that. Long, slender, feminine fingers, that probably play the piano. You have always admired people who play musical instruments. You intended to learn the guitar but haven’t quite gotten around to it yet. You will soon. You’ve just been so busy with your job. You hate your damn job. But it pays for the house. That house takes up so much of your time too. There’s always some sort of DIY to be done. And it’s never perfect enough. Not for your mother-in-law anyway. She’s finished the peanuts. The girl next to you. She’s looking over at the guy across the aisle and probably thinking about stealing his peanuts too. Some people have no fucking manners. Though he’s smiling back. Maybe he likes her. She’s probably prettier than you. Pretty peanut stealing bitch. Some people get all the peanuts. Life is so unfair. Now all you can think about is god damn peanuts. Every second that passes is a second you’re without the peanuts you wanted.

If you were really plummeting to your death it’s very unlikely that your focus would be on something as trivial as peanuts. You’d probably be feeling your heart pounding in your chest and wishing you’d given more attention to the things that really mattered. Thinking if you just had more time you’d definitely concentrate on the more important things. Enjoy life. Take pleasure in the little things and do the big things you were always too scared or busy to do. Now you’d realise that life is short and you should have just gone with your heart.

Life IS short. Yet all of us are distracted by peanuts. Not literal peanuts. But all the little stuff. The day to day crap that we all wade through. The boring job, the petty arguments, the ups and downs of life, wanting a new car, having to go to that event that we REALLY don’t want to go to, finally tiling the bathroom or putting shelves up, wondering why he hasn’t texted back yet. It’s all fucking peanuts!

And that, my friend, makes us monkey fools. Too distracted by everything going on around us to notice we’re fucking dying and our life is what’s happening right now.

I’m not saying you can go through life without the peanuts. You can’t. In fact, some people love the peanuts. If that’s you, then have all the peanuts your little heart desires. But if your heart wants something else, and you ache inside to be somewhere else, to do something else…then do it. I know there’s a million excuses as to why you can’t, and they are real and valid, but I don’t need to hear them.

You can feel sorry for yourself, and you can bitch and you can whine, and before you know it you’ll have bitched and whined yourself ten years forward. And now you’re bitching and whining AND lamenting another ten years washed over you.
 
You’re on an airplane and it’s not staying up in the air forever. You haven’t got time to make any excuses or to put things off. None of us do. Start getting happy. Whatever the hell it is that makes you smile, whatever helps you get through the day, that dream you hold in your heart, that something you’ve always wanted to do, start paying that some attention.

You can’t let your life pass you by because you are afraid. Grow up! Don’t exist, live!

Mmmmmmmmmm peanuts.