For no particular reason other than that it's a very complex and lengthy subject for me to write about, I've been putting off writing about this. I've had it planned to write about this subject next, but life got busy, as it does. Actually, it's still busy. As I sit here and start this blog post, I'm currently on day 11 of my roll (14-21 day assignment for work in wildland fire). Day 11 of working 12-16 hour days in temperatures reaching 100+ degrees. Day 11 of sleeping on the ground. Day 11 of no showers, or one or two if I'm lucky. Day 11 of sack lunches, if I get time for a lunch, Day 11 of grinding it out. And I'm loving it. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, obviously, but it has taught me to make the most of the little things. It's taught me to be grateful for what I have, for hot showers, a bed to sleep in, a roof over my head, being able to talk with and see my family and friends. All of the little things that we so often take for granted. And that, I think, is a part of my little "Just Keep Livin'" motto.
So what is it? What does "Just Keep Livin'" mean? It’s a simple saying and it doesn’t just mean one thing. It’s hard to explain and there are a lot of things that go into it, but I’ll do my best here.
The saying is more or less a summation of my outlook on life. No matter what happens, good or bad, just keep livin’, everything will turn out, it always does. The “just keep” part is to highlight the simplicity of it and to show that it’s a continuum. It's something that you can keep working at and towards. “livin’” means to lead your life with passion, adventure, genuineness, and purpose. It’s about intentionally LIVING your life, as opposed to just floating through. It's really a whole lifestyle to me. It’s chasing your dreams and having fun along the way. It’s finding the most profound significance in the smallest things, the beauty in the ugly, and the good in the bad. It’s being able to make light of your shortcomings while still focusing on and working towards the goal. It's having a "get to" attitude instead of a "have to" attitude. It's understanding and accepting that all things, good or bad, happen for you not to you.
How and where did it come about?
The motto has been a driving force in my life since I was about 17 or 18. Back then I came across this guy named Daniel Norris. This is where I was first introduced to the saying. I'm still not even exactly sure what he means when he says "just keep livin'," but that's alright. Perhaps it's different for him. Long story short, he's a pitcher in the MLB but he spends his off seasons living in a van. Here you have a guy, an elite athlete, who just got a 2 million dollar signing bonus, and he's living in a damn van. Sometimes just staying in Walmart parking lots! I thought it was awesome. I absolutely loved it. He grew up in Johnston City and had a very simple childhood and life. When asked about it, he said that "I'm not gonna change who I am just because people think it's weird," and that resonated with me. So many folks change everything about themselves just to impress people that they don't know or care about. Why? He said he was terrified "by living by someone else's code." I think that should scare all of us. Why should we live up to someone else's standards? Hell, why should we even compare ourselves to others? Your path is your path, and comparing yours to someone else's isn't fair to you, or them. There's no time limit on when you should have this done or that achieved or how you should do this or that. There's no right or wrong way, there are just ways. Some work better than others, sure, but doing things differently can also carry different lessons. Regardless, I don't think anyone should ever be sorry for not being something that someone else wanted them to be. It's not up to them. So I gained a little perspective from his words and wisdom on life and I coined "just keep livin'" to be my mantra. I made it my own code to live by. I swore to a life of positivity, adventure, humility, and fearlessly pursuing whatever it was that I wanted. And I wish we all could do that.
I also heard of this guy named Alan Watts. He was a British writer, speaker, and philosopher. One thing that he said that really stood out to me were his thoughts on death. He said that the idea of death, being dead, or dying was like "manure to the creative mind." Sure, the thought of death or dying isn't very pleasant to most people, it's dark and morbid and can make anyone feel, well, icky. It's not a generally good thought. But he was right. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me. Death will always be there, it's coming for all of us and we have literally no idea when it might find us. Shouldn't that be motivation enough to do the things that you want to do, and to do them now? Like right now? The idea of an impending and mysterious end to us is the manure that enables and encourages the growth and exploration of self in life, or that's the way that he saw it anyway. It made me think, what kind of legacy do I want to leave behind when my number gets called? And what if it gets called tomorrow? Would I be okay with the impact I made? Could I have or should I have done things differently? I could go on and on with these kind of questions, but really I think the answer to being at peace with it all is to just be a good human. Lead a just life. Be fair. Be kind. Be true to yourself and your Journey. I really don't think anyone can go wrong in pursuing that.
You see, I've only spent 22 short years on this earth, but man oh man do I try to learn more and more each day. I've learned a lot already, but I'm not even close to where I wanna be. It's that chase, that striving for more, that elusive feeling of "getting there" that keeps me going. There's so much out there! I wanna know how to learn better, how to help more people, how to be more happy, how to spread more joy, how to hurt less, how to drive a stick shift, how to play guitar, how to fly a plane, how to grow a nice garden! I wanna be able to say "Oh I've done that!" or "Hey, I can help you with that," more often because I've gone out and gained the experience and capability to do so. I want to do more so that I can help others do more.
A couple more quotes:
Henry David Thoreau once said, “A single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” This kind of mentality builds our mindset. It makes perfect sense. Just as professional athletes practice the same movements again and again, day in and day out, just to create muscle memory; so should we think, again and again, the positive thoughts to create our outlook.
I think that Joe Dirt even had something good to say in the matter. He said, "Nah man, you gotta keep going. What am I gonna do, quit? That's not an option. You gotta keep on keepin' on. Life's a garden, you dig it, you make it work for ya. You never give up man, that's my philosophy." That's also one of my favorite quotes on life...
I really feel like I'm missing so much more that I would have liked to have touched on... idk. Well, anyway, next time you see a penny on the ground and it isn't heads-up, be sure to flip it so it is. That way the next person that comes along and sees it can pick it up for some good luck. We all need a little of that here and there. In the end, I think the best we can do is to just keep going. To Just Keep Livin' man!
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