I’ve made up my mind. I need to watch a lot more documentaries….as much as I hate how modern-day hipsters have monopolized them. I think I’m going to dub every Sunday “Doc Day,” because I need a little inspiration in my life to prevent lethargy and boredom–and especially resentment–during the week. Because our professions essentially define our lives and who we are as people, it is safe for you to assume I’m talking about my career–freelance writing.
I love writing, but I know myself well enough to understand that I lose my will to go on doing the same thing after a while; living a life that begins to feel routine. I am determined to not let that happen to me, because I don’t want to stop lusting over a job that I really feel I have a talent for. For the inexperienced human being, or one that is in denial about who they are, the grass always looks greener on the other side. Now, I’m not saying that I don’t still catch myself ignorantly feeling jealous about the things people have or are doing–it’s very much the opposite, and it’s something I try to work on every day; however, I know that taking a second look at a situation from an experienced point of view is enough of a smack in the face to understand that perseverance is actually the key to greatness.
Staying with a job that, deep down, you KNOW is no good for you is not what I’m getting at here…sometimes, it really does take trying out a bunch of different jobs to find out where you’re true talents are at. In my case, however, writing is really my calling. And I had to find that out the hard way–by suffering through a couple of hellish jobs beforehand.
Back to my point–documentaries, and my watching them. The stigma that hipsters have plagued the documentary genre stands with me no more, and I now find them to illustrate the human experience from a thousand different points of view. My craving to understand life and the core of my existence could be fulfilled through documentary-watching, but warily, because I’m well aware of bias and agendas. I IMDB-the heck out of everything and check out message boards after watching a piece to validate what I think it to mean.
How does that tie in with my tangent babble about jobs and grass being greener on the other side? Because some of my favorite documentaries so far have been those of rock stars or historical figures sticking with their passions, and continuing to do what they know in their heart is their life’s calling.
Jim Morrison is someone that still haunts me after watching “When You’re Strange”–a documentary about The Doors and their journey through the ups and downs of rock and roll and life. The fact that Morrison and the rest of The Doors powered through criticism for longer than the documentary’s 20 or so minute portrayal is something that baffles me. Did they have heros that told them to do that? Were they inspired by a particular rock star or some other mensch that told them to push through everyone telling them that they were strange or unimpressive? And that there would be a light at the end of the tunnel if they did just that? It blows my mind that people can have that kind of perseverance when SO MANY naysayers are trying to convince them otherwise. Wouldn’t you start to believe the criticism? How did they know that they should keep going? I feel very lucky to have discovered biographies and documentaries about successful individuals, for they have so far acted as free guidebooks to life for me. Guidebooks that were written from the trials and errors of people that learned the hard way FOR us. History that has been written for all of us to learn from and adapt and become better than those before us.
With that said, I am once again re-inspired to keep doing what I’m doing now. I’m good at writing (and I’m not counting what I’m sure are dozens of grammatical errors in this blog). And while I of course strive to become a jack-of-all trades, I would like to be more of a master at that one.
The Post-College Revelations 