My daughter says that I am a basic white girl because I am completely in love with pumpkin spice everything, and a lot of what I do every September consists of getting excited about the pumpkin insanity until it happens, and then stocking up on it (everything — all of it) so that I have enough to last at least a few months into the next year. It’s really that bad.
With that in mind, If there’s anything to be learned from the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1917, it’s that the human spirit is quite readily capable of triumphing over the absolute worst that life on this beautiful, broken ball of rocks and metal is capable of throwing at it. Seriously, look it up. It’s an amazing story. Don’t try to read the Wikipedia article, though, because it’s very stuffy and boring. Watch a YouTube video about it. Here, look, I found one for you:
When a human being puts their mind to it, they can rise above and overcome virtually any obstacle. The difficulty lies mainly in choosing to remain steadfast in this state of emotional and spiritual expenditure throughout the ensuing struggle.
Remain steadfast, though! Do it! It’s worth it.
Whatever it is that you’re facing, keep your eyes fixed and focused upon the object of your aspiration, and do not give heed to those former ways of thinking that may try, from time to time, to pull you back down into that old state of despair.
I’m going to be totally candid for a moment.
I was at work today, and I was texting back and forth with a friend, and this feeling came over me…this old, familiar feeling of, “Ben, you are just a burden, and you’re not worth the oxygen that it takes to keep you alive. Why do you continue to exist? You know all it does is make life difficult for other people! Just give up already. Please. Do us all a favor.”
Now, it may seem horrifying to you, gentle reader, that I have thoughts like this, but I do, and it used to be that these types of thoughts were the main theme of any given day’s psychological patterns. That’s not the case anymore, though. Now these kinds of thoughts are a weird, unwelcome anomaly. When they happen, they feel like unwelcome intruders, and they are quickly chased off the premises of my mind by the main caretakers there now, who are Faith, Hope, and Love. Those guys generally make short work of burglars like that these days.
