IDEAS | LIFE
Life Isn’t A Happy Plot Line
Are you tired of the endless lies and bullshit?
Life isn’t a happy plot line meandering its way through the hero’s journey. Yet, every time you read an article on Medium, or submit a piece to a big-time publication, they all want to hear the same thing. Bring the story to a conclusion. Outline the lessons learned. Shine a light on the positives. Hit a concluding note.
Life isn’t like that. We all know this. So why put up with this crap? I’m assuming most people’s lives are much like everybody’s life. It’s full of tedious moments sprinkled with horror and delight in equal measures. I’m sick of ending every fucking story with a point. Why can’t it simply end, inconclusive, like a final episode of The Sopranos?
Does every argument with your partner need a conclusion? Despite being grown adults, my preferred method is to simmer quietly away with loathing until one of us breaks and we both end it in a highly charged session of love-making. No…I’m joking. There’s no fucking passionate embrace and angry sex to put the sweeteners on my clinical need to be right. It’s a depression row that holds captive my reason. There are no winners in petty disputes over whose turn it is to do the dishes.
Is life too depressing that we all want to escape? Are we mere cogs within the system that we suck up any old bollocks peddled as hope? “Look, there’s another writer earning thousands a month.” “Wait, there’s one man who only writes twice a month and not every day and who miraculously makes a fortune simply by chatting with other writers.”
Do you believe that crap? That this man doesn’t have any real-life connections that enabled him to tap into one of Medium’s biggest publications and become an editor. That his only claim to landing an editor’s role was that he studied the writing of other writers on this platform? I can bullshit. This isn’t real life.
Over on Linkedin, truth is a rare commodity too. Nobody wants to show the struggle and hardship of being unemployed. The majority of coaches and Linkedin trainers are scraping by selling dreams. One man claims to work only fours a week while lording it on the south coast of France. Tim Nice But Dim meanwhile will talk about his struggle with near-death cancer without actually having cancer or being near to death. Others will remind you to write every day while they hire a media team and buy fake followers to boost their stats.
This isn’t real life.
The same rules apply with Instagram and Twitter except there we presume it’s all fake having seen behind the camera and the various exposes. But on Medium (like Linkedin), this is a professional site and one dedicated to writers. We also believe that everybody knows what they’re talking about and what they’re presenting is the real deal.
How much do fake followers cost? A quick Google search reveals how easy it is to mislead. How quickly you can acquire a large following given enough capital. Tempting? Possibly worth the investment? What about other ways to game the system like ‘pods’ (on Linkedin) or writers groups? The same applies across all platforms. To be seen doing great is the commodity of modern living. The shine of success. The glitter of a new car on lease. The expensive props. The fake news of earnings. The short-cuts to a side-hustle.
Don’t get caught in this trap. Question everything.
Life is tough for the majority of us, especially during a pandemic. There are no easy rides and virtually everybody on every platform is hustling.
Can you really trust an avatar?
There is no happy conclusion to this article. There’s no life lesson to be learned here. I’m struggling. My family is struggling. Everybody wants more. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be here hustling and writing shit about how great everything is while the world burns.
And fuck you if you are doing well and telling me how to succeed with your three-point action plan for making thousands. I know it takes years of hard work or great connections and has very little to do with talent. Now get off your high horse and stop telling me how to live my life.
Fuck your conclusion.
