I’ve just finished watching a great podcast with host Tucker Carlson and guest Dave Smith (Comedian/Libertarian commentator). The latter has recently come to increased prominence after his ‘debate’ with the generally ridiculed Douglas Murray on the Joe Rogan Experience.
I’ve quoted a touching phrase from the interview as the title, it really moved me. We like to think we are oh-so-very rational and able to perfectly weather every storm but, deep down, we all know that whatever age we are, there are those moments where we are reduced to mush, we can’t articulate what we really want to say properly and we’re rendered that angry child that doesn’t get its way.
We never fully stop being any past age we’ve been.
We never stop growing up.
In fact, we probably never fully reach adulthood.
We have ideas in our heads of appropriate behaviour at various epochs and we have an innate sense of what’s suitable in given situations but I remember hearing aeons ago that no has ever actually counted a so-called centipede with 100 legs. It’s always something like 97 or 86 or 92. Never perfect but perfectly fine as it is.
This is the point of the quote. Not even that we’re flawed or prone to bouts of silly behaviour. We’re human (we forget this often). I have my conditioning, you have yours.
It’s always made me laugh that most of the stuff we’re blamed for is never our responsibility. I’ve frequently been described as naive or spoilt because I came from a wealthy family. Spend five minutes with my dad and understand he won’t sit still (particularly in his working days!) and you’ll realise why he was successful – an enviable mix of clever, dedicated and industrious.
No family is perfect.
No person is perfect.
Things in a state of becoming are changeable.
It all sounds obvious in theory but in practice, we’re making it up as we go along.
When you’re motivated by doing ‘good’, stop hating yourself (because there are elements where you do!). Do you hate a 3-year-old for spilling milk or bashing itself? No, you don’t. So stop mentally wrecking yourself.