a good place to start
Shall we start from the very beginning? Every story is told in three parts. A beginning, a middle and an end. They can be told in different orders, simultaneously, or linearly. The goal of a story teller is to tell the tale clearly, engagingly and with impact. You take the audience on a journey, from a starting line to a finishing line. But what if you don't know where the lines are? In fiction, as in history, you can pinpoint them, but in the present, in reality it is much harder.
Stories are condensed version of events. You cut from scene to scene or chapter to chapter. It's up to the writer on how much time has passed between events - it could be seconds or it could be years.
Life on the other hand doesn't work like that, but it's hard to remember that sometimes. Everything surrounding us tells to rush to the exciting parts - news articles heralding big achievements, friends re-telling scandalous events or even just being asked 'what's next for you?'. There is an expectation for big things.
As a teenager growing up, but even more so now in my mid-twenties, I feel this pressure to have lived my life fully already. I need to have made millions, won a noble peace prize, bought my own house and be dating a celebrity. Does any one else feel that way?
We're surrounded by misinformation, purely because it shouts the loudest. No, the majority of people do not have millions, a noble peace prize, a house or a celebrity partner. It simply isn't true, but I feel constant failure despite knowing that fact. I do, I beat myself up because I don't. I wish I had the superpowers of an Avenger, or the skill of Van Gogh.
One of the quotes I have tried to take to heart over the last few years is "Comparison is the thief of joy". Yes, this could mean comparing directly to things around you, but to me it means comparing reality with potential. I'm comparing the present with the future and falling short because of it. I'm not seeing the journey as beneficial but it is, and that is something it has taken me a while to learn.
We, here at GoodBadMad, are at the beginning of our journey...that much we can tell. We don't know the middle and we don't know the end. We don't know what the future is, but I think that's the exciting part. The adventure is in the unknown. You aim for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but you can't see it. You push yourself along the journey, with determination, or willpower, or faith, hoping that your gold is at the end. I guess what I'm saying is, if you're following the rainbow, aiming for that pot of gold at the end....just don't forget to appreciate the colours along the way.