What is the worst bad thing that can happen? Wouldn't you agree that it keeps us from doing all the good things we want to? And what stops a person from reaching this goal more than the weakness in their soul that leads them down the path of mediocrity or, worse, crime? Let's take a look at this evil, first in terms of writing and then in terms of life in general.
Two years after my diving accident, when I was a 19-year-old high school student and beginning poet, many things hurt my creativity. My trips to and from school in a special bus, my classes, and my homework took a lot of time, even though I didn't have to do much writing and was mostly tested orally. Most of the time, my need to study was more important than my desire to write poetry.
To be honest, I had a lot of spare time. The fact that I spent most of it in a boring way showed that I was wasteful, lazy, and scared. I usually liked to daydream or do something else to take my mind off of things rather than write poems. Even though getting this expression right would make me happy, I rarely tried. The things that stopped me were how hard it was to try and how uncertain I was about how my efforts would turn out.
If you want to write a beautiful poem, it is not easy to write a poem. It takes a talented, skilled, and determined poet to do it. I wasn't very good at writing poetry. My grammar and style were bad, and I didn't have much willpower. I didn't have the courage to follow my creative urges. This lack wasn't all there was. When I felt really inspired, I fought the urge to play around, which would have been taking the easy way out, and instead tried to write a poem. I had to do this task over and over again to get better at it, gain more confidence, and feel less down about the challenge at hand.
I'm afraid there are a lot of young people like the young man I was back then. They like the idea of succeeding, but they don't like having to work hard or the chance of failing. The contradiction is clear, and the result is predictable: since effort and the chance of failing are necessary for success, avoiding them makes it impossible to achieve it. Everyone knows this, of course. The problem is that most people don't want to believe it. This shows that knowledge doesn't have any power on its own; you need a strong will for it to work.
Even if a young person knows the rules of success, they can still fail if they don't follow them. Accepting this is part of having wisdom (the exclusion of which is thus foolish). It's not the same as knowing something. People who are wise and brave are the ones who put what they know to use and do well because of it. Life without courage is like a bird without wings; it can't fly. This is true in every way.
Why is it hard to want the goal and the way to get there? You could say that it's because the ways are hard and dangerous. If you're right, why do some people like it when things are hard and dangerous? The answer to this mystery lies in how they act: They see these different things not only as problems, but also as chances to learn and have fun. When they were young, they were spoon-fed and kept safe from the bad things in the world. But as they got older, they stopped wanting things to be easy and started wanting things to be hard. In the end, what makes them stand out is their maturity, which stands in contrast to the immaturity of others.
Between these two extremes is a middle ground that is half mature and half childish. It means taking charge of one's life while choosing the easiest path. Small ideas and small realisations that are far below a person's potential for greatness are not good reasons to claim to be wise and successful. The important word here is "potential." There can be greatness in what seems like a small person and smallness in what seems like a big person. The truth is in how big or small a person's potential is realised.
How can you find out what it is? By trying to make it happen in the act of living, which is always changing and has many different parts. This means that you have to push yourself hard, and you might go too far. Measure means nothing to someone who has never gone beyond it. Limits shouldn't be made up, they should be experienced. This experience calls for a serious and brave desire to be great. Stay away from frivolity, laziness, and cowardice. Don't let them get the best of you like I did so many times. They are strong temptations that can lead to a clever way of thinking that only losers have. Watch out for this trap. Life is a hard test of who you are; when you die, you'll have plenty of time to relax.
I used to think that spontaneous writing was a good way to tell if something was real because it reminded me of when I was in rehab and could write about anything. I was foolish, but I wasn't a complete fool. After denying it and making up some nonsense to defend my stupidity, I finally admitted with a snarl that my holy quest for authenticity was just a vile excuse for stupidity. Having a clear idea of one's true self and being able to say it in a clear way is not something that happens on its own. It is not simple. It is a web of wants, feelings, ideas, and memories caught in a whirlwind of how the mind and the outside world interact. Either a person goes to great lengths to explain and form the truth about themselves and hits the bull's-eye, or a person talks bullshit, if you'll pardon my language.
Some people are great at making speeches on the spot, as if they were so smart that they wouldn't say anything stupid when they had to. Don't get it wrong—how smart they are is only one part of the equation. They have spent years getting better at how they think and talk, and they have also been learning more and more. Their naturalness is looked at. It is the result of many practise runs, just like an actor's show. No one, not even the most talented people, ever finds it easy to do something great. Luck alone doesn't make a person great, but it can help them get there. The stone is given, but the walking is hard work and consists of a million steps uphill. Achieving greatness is like climbing Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the Himalayas. It is a great accomplishment that makes you feel proud.
