178. If you could be the best in the world at something, what would it be?
The easy, obvious answer here is “writing,” but I don’t like it for two reasons.
First, that’s a lot of pressure and responsibility. Without divine intervention or blessing, being The Best™ takes a LOT of work. And while there’s nothing wrong with working hard to be the best you can be, being better than literally everyone else in the entire world is an extremely tall order.
Second, writers are already constantly comparing ourselves to “The Greats” as well as our peers and we’re a very insecure bunch. Even if one of us was declared The Best™ we would almost certainly deny it and try to hand the title to someone else. After all, writing is an art and art is subjective. It’s like asking who is the best painter or the best singer. Plus, it would stifle creativity among all others who would aspire to be The Best. You can’t put a ceiling on creativity.
Being the best at something also carries an implicit caveat that you are the only one in the world who CAN do the thing. And since I’m the only one who can be me, I want to be the best me I can be. Even better than all the other me’s in all the other universes. Come fight me, me’s. I’ll totally crush you.
179. Is our world today a better or worse place than it was when you were a kid?
Technology has certainly come a long way over the last two decades. Advances in medicine have been excellent as well. Sometimes I wonder, had my dad had access to today’s tech when he had his accident, if he would have been able to pull through or even make a full recovery. Particularly when I hear about new tech for paraplegics and rehab to help them regain mobility.
On the whole, I think people are also more accepting of “others” and are more open-minded than they were when I was a kid. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we’re making great strides in equality across the board and I’m fairly optimistic about the future.
I know it feels like the world is falling apart at the seams, and it’s easy to fall back on pessimism and despair, but I feel like that also comes with the territory of growing up. When you’re a kid, you don’t view the world the same way as adults do. You’re not worried about what laws are being passed or what countries are butting heads. You’re worried about what Kim said to Jake and if you can even all still be friends or what mom is going to say when you bring home a stray kitten after curfew.
The world is the world. It’s the same world as when we were kids, it’s just that we’re aware of more than our own neighborhood now. And we have cooler toys now. And faster communication. And the memes are pretty great.
ONLY POSITIVE VIBES INTO 2019!
Notes: Yeeeeah so this fell off the radar as the holidays got into full swing. I was shopping the night I was “supposed” to post this. Then between the company holiday party, followed by recovering from the holiday party, the last few days of the work year, and traveling for the holidays, I just never got around to finishing this last post of the year. UNTIL TODAY.
Even though Time is a Construct and also Fake, I couldn’t go into 2019 without finishing my last set of prompts. I had thought I would do a “Best of 2018” or “Top X Things of 2018” post before the end of the year but I never really came up with a good topic for it. A reflection post could have worked I suppose. And maybe I’ll still write one up after I post this. I just couldn’t let 2018 go out without writing anything in the last couple weeks of the year. I want to go into the new year with momentum! Yeah! Motivation!
Happy New Year everybody! I look forward to another year of writing with you all!
Closet Full of Notebooks 