6 Harsh Truths

This, jadies and lentilmen, is a link to a Cracked article.

For those of you unfamiliar with Cracked, they are known for humorous, offensive articles that point out obvious things that nobody wants to think about. Things like … clownfish behaviors in real life and what that would mean about Finding Nemo.

The language is NSFW and only a very small portion of the world wouldn’t be offended at least once (at least a little) when reading their articles.

This article is no different, and yet I am linking to it and recommending a read anyway.

Cracked.com’s 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person

For those of you who don’t want to read, I’ll do a Tami-summary here, but I’ll be rephrasing and paraphrasing rather a lot.

6, 5, 4, 3, 2 : What are you DOING?

I’ve combined quite a few of Cracked’s headings into a single point, because I believe they blend together very well.

What are the things you WANT? You want money, fame, respect, food, shelter, love, etc.

What are you DOING to get those things? What are you offering the world? What are you giving up?

You don’t apply for a job as a programmer at a corporation, show up in sweatpants, insist that you crochet lovely mittens, and expect to get hired on.

Sitting on a couch watching tv and eating junk food all the time may lead to success for some people, but the odds are NOT in your favor.

Bring something to the table. BE something. DO something. If you met yourself, would you even like who you see? Stop wishing you were someone else, and figure out what you want and what it’ll take to get there.

A quote that hit me pretty hard:

Do the math: How much of your time is spent consuming things other people made (TV, music, video games, websites) versus making your own?

Apple Trees

Followed by a FANTASTIC discussion of “who you are on the inside” and “what you do on the outside”. If you’re an apple tree, then who you are on the inside is the DIRT in which you’re growing. No matter how good the dirt is or how lovely the tree, most people ONLY CARE ABOUT THE APPLES.

What fruit are you producing?

Inside, you have great compassion for poor people. Great. Does that result in you doing anything about it?

also

How many of you are walking around right now saying, “She/he would love me if she/he only knew what an interesting person I am!” Really? How do all of your interesting thoughts and ideas manifest themselves in the world? What do they cause you to do? If your dream girl or guy had a hidden camera that followed you around for a month, would they be impressed with what they saw? Remember, they can’t read your mind — they can only observe. Would they want to be a part of that life?

The Final Point

Everything about you is going to reject change.

Whether you do it by getting defensive, attacking the “attacker” who says you need to change at all (what does Tami know anyway? And certainly what does that Cracked article know?) or nitpicking the bits you don’t personally believe in, your inner self will do everything it can to make sure you keep sitting on that couch, watching that tv and eating that junk food.

It’s comfortable. It’s easy.

You can certainly get by that way. Make your way through life without ever producing fruit. You’re not actually an apple tree, and nobody’s going to cut you down for not producing. You’re a person. You can get government aid pretty easily these days, and then you don’t even need to get a job.

My Apples

That’s not what I want, though. That’s not who I want to be. And I know for plenty of you, that’s not who YOU want to be, either.

This blog isn’t my fruit. It’s just me, figuring things out, trying to learn and share as much of that knowledge as I can. My blog is flowers on an apple tree branch, but not actual fruit.

I want my apples to be my books, my stories, my characters and worlds and I want them to be sweet and fragrant and utterly irresistible.

You

What do you want your apples to be?

Related posts:

Giving Myself Permission
Recipe! - Apple Sausage Burger
The Trees Are Spilling Joy