Your Independence

The Smoking Monkey got me started on this one. Look folks, you don't need a psychiatrist or therapist or a bunch of pills. JUST STOP DOING STUFF THAT MAKES YOU MISERABLE!

I see a lot of miserable, unhappy people and they are everywhere. There is an advanced course on this but let me give you the basics. I know a gal that has a lot of problems because she drinks too much alcohol. If you try to tell her that she tells you that she is not giving up "the only thing in my life that gives me any joy". Oh, for God's sake. You drink to forget that you have fucked up your life because you drink too much, fall down, yell at your friends, get a DUI, etc. Duh!?

I know a couple that are always mean to each other. They are not happy together and they should be very happy; they're made for each other. He is unhappy because he never gets to do stuff that he likes. She is unhappy because he's mean whenever he is doing what she wants. This may be too hard for some people so I'll explain: He should go fishing or camping once a month even if everyone else whines. She should go do what she wants without needing him along for validation. No discussion about who is doing what is allowed unless both parties are interested. Full stop.

I know a guy that works almost all the time and whenever I see him he looks like a ghetto kid turned loose on the post-Halloween candy rack with $10. He'll ride up on his 57,000 dollar motorcycle, whip off his 257 dollar sunglasses, lose 157 dollars playing poker and complain that all he does is work. He never gets to have any fun. He works so much that he's only in his 457,000 dollar house about 3.57 hours/month when he is not asleep. I think you can predict my answer: work 57 hours/week less, take a 57,000/year pay cut and lay on a hammock.

I'm not a licensed therapist but I am a certified non-working monkey(trademark NWM). Your inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness is not a guarantee. You will have to smell something bad about once a day. Don't take out the garbage and you will end up buried in it. Look peeps, you have to do stuff you don't like. You do have choices about how much and what kind of stuff. You don't have to roll in it. Start thinking about this. OK. Advanced course. You do not have to pay the electric bill. If you do not pay the electric bill you will not have electricity. Therefore, you lose the things that run on electricity (the internets) but gain things that do not (silence). You are making a choice. Stop treating things that are choices as if they are requirements.

Go do what you want. Now. If I have to tell you that does not mean spending 5700 dollars on a vacation to Rome when you only have 57 dollars nor is it a license to poke someone who deserves it with a sharp stick, you are an idiot and beyond help. For the rest of you, go on now, move along, have fun.