The Fall of the Golden Age

“As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.”
Henry Van Dyke

With confidence, a little faith and perseverance, we can make this the best year ever.  I have faith in all of you.

Where is our society standing in 2012 and where are we heading?  It’s not the first time this has been said, but we are long pass the golden ages. Gone is the age of information, the age of knowledge. Welcome to the age of entertainment. Facebook, reality shows, FPS games (first person shooter), RPG’s (World of Warcraft), result in one thing. Mind-numbing entertainment.

I don’t at all think entertainment is a purely bad thing.  I’m in my 20’s and I love all that shi’t, but I try to stay conscious about it and not let it consume me. When people get that “like” on Facebook, that awesome headshot in Call of Duty, or even when Ronnie breaks up with Sammie on Jersey Shore, your body releases endorphins. It’s a chemical in the brain responsible for excitement.  I’m sure you’ve heard of them. Endorphins are released when a person is in intense pain, after exercise, when getting excited, and eating spicy food, ect.  Something is being neglected if our daily dose of endorphins comes from a few comments on Facebook.  More often than not, people are going after the short term, immediate effects, rather than building a foundation and experiencing long term effects.  It’s simple; the return you get is equal to what you put in.  Let me explain. Say you want to lose weight, but you want to do it quickly.  You might end up doing something drastic like starving yourself and steady state cardio. This may be a quicker way to lose weight but it’s not the best. You’re building on sand and it won’t last.  You lost weight quickly, but sacrificed your health and most likely will gain most of that weight back. You’ll end up more miserable than before.  Now what’s the formula for this disaster?  Short-term pleasure =long-term discomfort.

 

Let’s look at it the other way around.  Say you want to lose weight quickly, and you’re looking to do it in a healthy manner. You change your diet, eat more frequently (eat more? GASP!), add some resistance and keep a determined pace.  All that work will be uncomfortable in the beginning and you won’t notice anything immediately, but you will stay fit over time.  Instead of being afraid of not having that quick fix and burst of endorphins, you keep your goal in sight and end up feeling super.  Hard work, discipline and perseverance paid off.  Now not only do you have the biggest shot of endorphins ever, but you will continue to have them.  What’s the formula for this success?  Short-term discomfort =long-term pleasure.


Don’t like your job?  Don’t play six hours of Call of Duty when you get home or stay on Facebook all night for some quick pleasure. Screw the quick fix, put down that Xbox controller or “X” out that Facebook window and open up Google, look for answers, attack your discomfort directly and build from the ground up.

 

If you have a weak foundation, the building will crumble. You have to start at the bottom, look at the primary cause of your problem. Just like when you have a headache.  Do you take Tylenol to relieve it or do you drink some water, get some fresh air and rest to get rid of it?  Masking the pain is only a quick fix, a temporary, short term solution. You have to understand that it’s not a fix, it’s just temporary relief.  You have to dig deep down and understand why you have the headache. Do things to get rid of it, not hide it.

 

Mindless entertainment gets in the way of everything these days, it’s distracting and most don’t take it in moderation. We’re living in a world where entertainment is more readily available to us than information. This may seem harmless, but what will the future hold for us if it’s so easy to fall into lazy habits of thinking?  Just like any habit, it becomes an addiction and you’ll need more of it to feel that “buzz” of satisfaction, you’ll need more for your body to fire out the endorphins.  In the end, it’s short lived and we’re back in the same stuck-in-the-box cycle. The same formula always applies.  Short-term pleasure=long-term discomfort. Short-term discomfort=long-term pleasure.  For a mini challenge, put down your New Year resolutions in the comment section!  Take control!

My New Year Resolutions

1. Find an apartment

2. Get back into boxing

3. Be a better boyfriend

4. Learn to backflip

5. Find a Muse and be rich

6. Get Better, Bigger, Faster, Stronger

7. Use internet less

8. Be more productive with my time

9. Finish what I started

10. Become more involved in fixing the world

11. Sleep Early

12. Be a better friend, son, boyfriend

13. Quit my job

14. Learn to let things go

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