unfortunately.

"Doesn't cause come before effect. No, that's just the way we see time." -Tenet

We create notions, systems, and thoughts about the direction we expect life to move. Why do we think in certain ways, develop opinions the way we do, or feel immensely about specific things? To simplify it for myself I consider life to be a timeline of "trust events." For example, who do you typically trust first in your life? Whoever your guardian is, whoever you spend the most time learning from first. Your mother, father, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa. Does this mean that they're right in what they teach you, or even trustworthy? No. We simply don't know any different until we start recognizing it at an older age. They're the ones introducing the path ahead of us, whether that path be a "good" one or a "bad" one, they've taken the responsibility to lead us there.

Will we ever discover something authentically for our own without the influence of someone we trust?

Deep down, I'm not sure. However, it does takes courage for someone who's being taught by someone they trust to make the decision to discover that truth for themselves apart from what they're being told, taught, or shared. Everyone's told by people they trust, people they admire, and people they look up to that there are certain paths to cross and actions to take in order to live life to the fullest, to be safe, to be secure, and to be content. They may be completely right or completely wrong, but wouldn't it be better for us to understand that for ourselves rather than attaching ourselves to the trust we have for their opinions? How many times are "truths" tested? Not often enough. Why are people so amazed by people like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowling, and many others? Because we admire something specific about these people, we admire the courage they've taken that we're scared to take ourselves, the courage to discover their passions regardless of the societal failures they experience, the ups and downs, the financial aches, the social denial, and the disapproval from the people they trust.

"unfortunately."

The one word that has been expressed to me more than any other word this year. Not by others regarding their circumstances, but rather by others regarding me. I'm grateful for this word, this has become my word with a different meaning. No one cares as much as you do, don't forget that. If you have a passion, an art, a skill, just something that you want to make a little bigger, a little more well known, don't stop caring as much as you do, don't stop trying, please don't stop. We don't live in a society that makes it easy to build on your passions, but we do live in a society that appreciates the people who do.

At some point we'll figure it out, there's no right or wrong, this isn't a written script. I don't care what the outcome is, the result, or the finished product. I care about the process, the journey, the learning curves, the never ending failures, because that's what solidifies someone. We build gratitude because of what we endure in order to achieve what we want, we develop empathy the more we interact with people outside of our circles, and we figure out how to trust when we start trusting ourselves.

sc.