"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."
Few people know what The Matrix is actually about. If you're not sure, look it up. Don't worry about the second and third installments so much. They were quickly manufactured for dollars more than philosophy and didn't really lend much to the mind, other than entertainment value.
So, why do I bring this up?
The Guiding Question
Ever wonder why people like coffee or beer? The first time you drink them, they're pretty awful. Of course, we all know they're "an acquired taste" of sorts. But, why do we press on to acquire those tastes? There's plenty of other drinks to be drunk with tastes correlating to marshmallows rather than manure, at first sip.
I'm actually a huge fan of both. (Coffee and beer, that is.) But both were dreadful on first experience. Just, bitter.
Now, I can tell you why I pressed on. I wanted to feel the effects.
Caffeine and alcohol are some crazy, crazy things to mess with your mind. The effects, in moderation, are extraordinary. The effects, through indulgence, have fleeting positive effects and a profusion of consequences, potentially fatal.
Yet, we drink them. I drink them.
Still wondering what we're talking about? This may be a long road. I better grab another latte real quick.
The Catalyst
In my life, it happened fast, and I was still young. Call it luck, call it fate, call it what you want, but I came to the crossroads early. I felt the effects of joy, and I felt the effects of torment.
This is to say, I knew what freedom felt like, and I knew the rat race, too.
For most, it's a "put-your-blinders-on" game, and maybe you have enough gas in the tank to get to the end of the tunnel. Of course, who's to say what's at the end? Maybe you don't have enough gas in the tank, you burn out, and it's all over, right in the middle of the tunnel. You're too far in to go back, and the end is too far to reach.
What a mess.
Fortunately, the Catalyst came.
The Catalyst approached slowly, like a sly slithering snake surreptitiously sneaking through the darkness until it gripped me around the neck, choking me, and hissing with laughter.
The Catalyst was red tape. It was drama. It was corporate. It was a direct exchange of time and misery for cash. It was mandatory meetings. It was week long, unpaid training courses. It was managers. It was everything I never wanted.
The Catalyst was brutal, but necessary.
If you feel the creep... If you feel the shadows... If you feel like you're gasping for air... It's coming for you, too.
Wake up!!
The Awakening
Curious as Alice, a few of us are able to fight the Snake and get to higher ground. We escape the darkness and climb for our lives. We seek to find, and find we do.
But, if only for a moment.
Yet,... that's all it takes. A moment... An insight... The Awakening.
It's our curiousness for coffee and beer which guides us to experience, to explore, to seek the effects of freedom. We don't know why we want it just yet, but we know we want it. We surely do. We're finally fully conscious, thank goodness.
For a time, we've only ever known the chains. We know not of what the Awakening really brings in the end, but it doesn't matter. We know it's better than what we know. How could it be worse?
The Road
And here we are.
The winding Road. Some of us are starting on the Sidewalk with no more than a crutch or cane, others are lucky enough to have earned their spot on the Fastlane.
But, regardless of what you're seeking, regardless of your speed, there's just one Guiding Question we all have to answer.
Why?!
- Why do you want it?
- Why do you feel like you deserve it?
- Why did you take the Red Pill?
- Why are you on this journey?
- Why am I writing this?
The Roadmaster
Okay, enough side-stepping.
Here's the punchline, kids. If you don't know what you want, you have no work to do today but starting the process of finding out what it is.
You can keep pressing on to pay the bills and keep the lights on, sure, but you're prematurely stacking the deck against yourself. Get your work done in haste, then get inside your brain.
Figure it out.
The road is long, but the Roadmaster will come at someone point. He's only going to ask you one thing:
"Why?"
You better have an answer.
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