Tag Archives: Understanding

No way out

There appears to be light at the end of the tunnel, but the torture, the effects of past decisions, partly decisions of hope, are still not over.

And somehow I still see no way out.

Why does life have to be like this? And why is there help for everybody, for disaster victims, for mentally ill, for physically ill, but not for people like me, or people like me in the moment, in the moment of suffering?

And no, there is no solution, because somehow I want the impossible. It seems, it feels, it’s how I think other people look at it.

And it’s just sad.

But it hurts, it hurts, and the pain, the desperation, the stress destroys even more.

So I even asked, begged for a way out. But it was not given, not given yet.

Forgiveness

I ended up in a very unsatisfying call with a call center agent, trying to find some solution, my solution, for a, for me, very big problem. But for some reason we couldn’t, as we were, or felt, both limited in our options? I in my solution, he in his procedures and policies and instructions.

Our Father, Who art in heaven,

Hallowed be Thy Name.

Thy Kingdom come.

Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

The sad thing I often see in these situations is that in the end everybody loses, loses something.

And I blamed, and often blame, the procedure, the procedures, the policies, the organizations bigger than humans.

But my partner, or I myself based on what my partner repeated from many times before, somehow got a little closer to learning a bit more about understanding.

And while thinking a bit further, maybe, just maybe, I was just as limited in my options as I the other person. As I had my solution in mind, which may have been as much a limitation as the solution of the other party.

So maybe, just maybe, I was trespassing as much as I thought the organization, procedure, policy or whatever I thought was trespassing me, my rights, my ideas.

Crime pays

The last few days I had quite some mood swings. I had quite some high a few days ago playing music like I used to do and going back to the time when I was a student. But today and yesterday were kind of lows.And while writing this post I am very much in doubt whether to write the things that are in my mind or not, as indeed, I am starting to believe that thoughts, words, especially when spoken, are very powerful.

But somewhere in my mind is also that I promised to myself and to you that I would achieve my success fully in the open, that I wouldn’t hold back, also the downs. And there is one thing I still don’t talk or write about as that’s too private, even though I think it’s my biggest turn off, so yes, I’m still keeping something to myself. But it’s just too private and as of the moment sharing it I think would do too much damage, so I won’t or at least I”ll wait until I feel it’s the right time.

I started this post with crime pays where I’m starting to realize that the real saying is crime doesn’t pay, but I’m starting to doubt which one is true, especially feeling myself at the deepest of the deep related to finance, financial success. As it seems there is something like balance, something like what others do to you, you are probably doing to others sooner or later. And until now I held back very much and I try not to do the bad stuff that I feel others did to me, but it’s getting harder and harder. And the reason is that some of the things that happened to me especially the last few years, especially business wise, just feel wrong. I feel that people did me wrong and that, no matter the mistakes I made myself that lead to where I stand right now, it’s too much, that I have sunk too low. It just feels wrong, it just feels unfair, too unfair.

You see, I’m kind of good person. Too good actually, accepting too much from everybody, too honest and things like that. However, I have one big flaw: my biggest flaw, mistake is that i gave in, still give in, too much to my partner. And that’s my part in the story, that’s my mistake. So that’s wrong, no matter my reasons, my excuses. And in a lighter form I also have that to other people, trying to please too much,  As yes, I just want people to like me. Which they probably and obviously don’t, but that’s another story.

Anyhow, going back to the crime stuff, me being a ‘good’ person or at least considering myself a good person, I have the feeling that too many people have taken advantage of me and are taking advantage of me. And I don’t want to pay back or something in a similar way, but this causes an enormous unbalance. As e.g. financially for quite some time I have not been able to pay some things I feel like I owe people. And that’s a big thing to me. So I’m doing to other people what people have been doing to me: not paying dues. Except for me it’s mainly that I can’t, that I can’t find ways to earn or receive or get money to pay my dues. And somehow it must go back to economy, the time we’re living in right now. As I have the feeling many more people are in a similar situation and that indeed, in general money is still not flowing as it could, as it should.

But again, this creates an enormous inner conflict with me as most of the ‘self help’ stuff I’ve been reading states that you have things in your own hand. That thoughts and attitude and working hard and planning and all that kind of stuff is fully under my, your control. And in a way I indeed do believe that. But somehow something doesn’t add up. As I’m still a human being with his flaws and weaknesses and stuff. And things like economy and state of mind of the world or state of the Universe, even if you consider everything as one or something, still seem to count.

So this feeling of imbalance creates an enormous inner conflict that cries, shouts to be solved. As somehow I have the feeling there is not enough coming to me, not enough coming back. Because I try to give, but somehow it’s not enough or not in the right way. And I try to be good and not paying back bad behaviour or bad things in ways I consider bad. And I try to be happy and grateful as it’s written and stated everywhere. But inside of me something shouts wrong or not enough or ???.

So yes, having the feeling of having nothing left, which I know is subjective as I can still eat and still live in this big house, is continuously asking for attention and kind of eating me and often paralyzing me.

And I still don’t know what to do.

Anyone recognizes this? Or want to give any kind of comment? That would be greatly appreciated and maybe we find a solution, better solutions together. As I’m quite sure I’m not alone.

Comparison

Jealous

I notice more and more that I am jealous on many people, especially famous and rich people, and recently even something like on anybody who has a job or some kind of (decent) income. And as I often read to not compare yourself with others and as jealousy is considered a negative emotion I am thinking about those things a lot.

And one of the things I was thinking is how happy those rich and/or famous people actually are. And how often they are happy or considered successful. And indeed, if I would want to change with them.

But most I am thinking about especially actors that my image of them is certainly not true and that there are probably only a few actors who are really successful most of their lives. And people may be successful or happy with their (acting) job or with their business success, but often I also read about their problems in relationship and/or problems with their children and such.

And being really famous probably means you need security 24/7, even if you don’t have a job. And of course actors jobs are temporary, as movies are relatively short term projects and TV series mostly don’t last for more than a few years or seasons.

So I was thinking to make this more real and make a list of people who I consider are successful and/;or people I’m jealous with. And then maybe do some research and try to figure out if they are really more happy than I am.

And I was just shocked finding some, probably based on research, figure that you can only influence happiness for only 40% yourself and that the remaining 60% is defined by character or circumstances. Something to look into I guess, because I thought happiness (and success) was just a choice, relatively independent on character or circumstances.

Famous and rich people

So let’s make the list of famous and rich people I am jealous of. For now in random order, with some comment if I know some more about them:

  • Leonardo DiCaprio: very famous actor, famous since relatively young age. Probably very rich. Considered a very good and successful actor. Seems to have problems in relationships.
  • Donald Trump: very rich and somehow famous public personality. Came from a rich family and continued his fathers business as far as I know. Has problems with relationships and has been bankrupt at least once.
  • Andrew Carnegie: very rich ‘sample’ of Napoleon Hill. Don’t really know something about him, especially that he was one of the tycoons when ‘America was built’.
  • Oprah Winfrey: very rich and famous TV personality. What is she doing different from me (and you?). Fully don’t understand why she is where she is. Her personality?
  • Justin Bieber: very famous singer at very young age. As far as I know he started singing, performing at very young age. I presume and as far as I know his mother ‘pushed’ (or helped?) him to get where he is now at very young age. Seems to have quite some personal problems, e.g. with girls/relationships.
  • Matt Damon: famous actor. As far as I know he had his struggles to become a famous actor, but as far as I know he realized his being famous at relatively young age.
  • Rick Harrison (Pawn Stars): seems to be quite rich from his business (that his father seems to have started) and now famous through his TV performance in Pawn Stars on History. Interesting story in Wikipedia though about Rick Harrison trying for four(!) years to get his shop in a TV show. So some dreaming and persistence involved. Or maybe even a lot. Divorced twice according to Wikipedia, so not so lucky in relationship/marriage it seems.
  • John Travolta: famous actor. Is older than I thought. Seems to have had quite some ups and downs in his movie career. Main issue in his life I guess is the loss of his son, where as far as I know the loss of a child is the worst thing that can happen to a human being. He also lost his first wife and seems to have (had) some marriage problems with his second wife. He owns several planes so must be quite rich.
  • Bill Gates: the face of Microsoft and is one of the richest people on earth. As far as I know he is more of a visionary than a business man and I feel some connection with him in also being a bit a visionary and (maybe?) technical. Still wondering how he made it so far and I didn’t even really take off. The right time, the right place and the right people? There must be more thinking of the Principles of Success. Also older than I thought.
  • Steve Jobs: for me especially important as he seems to thrive on being charismatic. Had his ups and downs, but as far as I know financially never as bad as I have and had. Had his ups and downs business wise though which must have hurt him badly. Struggled with cancer and finally died from it. Was older than I thought, but died relatively young.
  • Al Pacino: don’t know much about him. Always think his name is fake, but I’m not sure.
  • Jon Voight: always liked him, but weird to me that he is not so handsome. But why would an actor be? Quite some serious family problems, so happy?
  • Steve Buscemi: the ugliest actor I ever saw in movies. And I guess the actor I admire most, as he turned his looks into an asset playing roles that really fit his looks. I guess I takes courage to do something like that and I cannot imagine it must have been easy for him. And weird, until just now I didn’t even know his name. Bravo!

Other actors, not so impressive to me, but worth mentioning:

  • Tom Hanks.

Some conclusions

As indicated in the introduction I have been thinking a lot about rich and famous people recently. And I still can’t figure out why they ‘made it’ and I didn’t. I can’t imagine they’re that much better than I am or you are. They can’t be all those people who work 24/7, work hard, are persistent beyond all means, etc., etc. So what is it? Is it attitude? Is it still something like Law of Attraction? Is it indeed this ‘break’, this opportunity they saw or had? Is it this person they met? Is it the location they were? Do they have a different personality? Or is it still something like luck?

I’m still not fully sure what it is, but I’m sure they’re all not that different from you and me. So maybe persistence is still the biggest thing and I’m going to find out. With this site, this project I’m more and more determined to figure out how all those people I consider famous and successful and I’m not are where they are now. And how they stay there.

And yes, another thing I found out and see more and more. There are an awful lot of famous and rich people around. Not like ten or twenty, but hundreds or thousands or even ten thousands. And rich people there are even more. So there is room out there and it is possible to get there, also for you and me.

Everybody is normal

I just found on the internet someone telling about being bipolar. And I read about him having been confined in some kind of institution. And while reading the Wikipedia article on bipolar disorder I recognize things of myself. E.g. I guess most people might think my ideas about this website and my goals with it are out of the ordinary. And I guess they are. And knowing me and reading my posts you may read about me being desperate sometimes. Also people have considered me having Asperger Syndrome or something. And yes, as far as I know many people consider me as being introvert, another box being put in. And yes, I am gay, another thing people may like or not like, but again, yes, it puts me in a box.

But what is this, that ‘we’ put each other in boxes. What is this that ‘we’ try to ‘cure’ everybody who has treats that are out of the ordinary. Or at least somehow ‘mark’ people with certain treats and have some positive or negative opinion related to it, e.g. if someone is gay.

And I don’t have all the answers, as someone killing people because he has some ‘disorder’ I wouldn’t know what to do with except indeed probably locking him or her up in a place where he or she can do no harm to other people. And one of the major treats someone can have I don’t have any clue of how to deal with is someone being pedophile. As I guess for most people the sexual urge is one of the biggest drivers in life, one of the highest needs to fulfill. And being gay I know that sexual orientation is just something you ‘have’, at least for me it’s just a feeling, it’s just something that’s part of me and that feels like being unchangeable, feels like just ‘being part of me’, feels like it belongs to me.

So somehow I have thought a lot about being a pedophile. I presume when you are a pedophile you just also have their sexual orientation, just like me or you. So of course you would want, need to express that as I presume it’s the same type of urge most people have and if not met it would cause a lot of problems, at least it does for me. But yes, I agree, having sex with children in a way a pedophile would need does not fit my ideas of what is appropriate, what ‘should be’ as I indeed believe children should not experience sex in that way. But where does that put a pedophile? In my opinion in quite an impossible situation as he or she cannot express his or her sexual feelings in an appropriate way, although as far as I know there are also situations or cultures that would allow the behavior, the grown ups having sex with children.

Anyhow, that’s not really what I wanted to write about, about pedophiles, but for a long time already I have in mind to raise some understanding, sympathy, empathy for people being pedophile. Because their situation must be awful, making it virtually impossible to live a proper life.

So what did I want to write about? Well, I’m not a psychologist or something, but it seems that we try to put more and more ‘marks’ on people, like how they differ from the average Joe. And if it has some kind of inconvenience for society or other people we often want to ‘treat them’, cure them. But why? And who decides what’s normal and what’s abnormal. And why would we want to treat them or mark them as ‘abnormal’. As one of the first things I learned in biology class, as far as I remember our biology teacher even started the whole subject with it: everybody is abnormal, as everybody is different. That’s how we are built. That’s how the world was built.

So let’s be careful putting each other in boxes, in trying to change each other. Let’s first see what’s really there and appreciate it, in the other, the other person. And also constantly monitor the line between ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’, where in the last case I mean when to decide when to ‘treat’ people or in the worst case lock them up. As in the end everybody is normal, as being different is part of being normal, being human.