Intollerance

 "Make the best out of what you have."  

How many times have we heard that statement?   
Somehow as we were growing up,  hearing those words always sounded suspiciously like a "cop out",  like a suggestion to get away with doing less, or a half-assed job because you weren't exactly dealt the "better hand".        
"Make the best out of what you have." was a way to say,  "yeah,  we know this isn't ideal..  but just make it work... somehow,..  no pressure.. no expectation of actual goodness.."  
Jesus... what a terrible concept. 
Doing your "best" wasn't really..  your "best" at all... it was pushing "barely".. if that.    
But its a common phrase..
I have to admit,  I became pretty damn exhausted by the way it sounded to me.    And the false sense of dumbed-down humility that accompanies it. 


...So, recently gentlemen,
 I have been playing with the idea of adapting life in a tangible, literal context to that phrase..   with the attitude of "YES!  Why not make the best of out what you're given?"  
 NO.  NO... Literally..  I dig it.  Lets do it!    
This mantra.. that I have considered such a disenchanting statement... has actually got some, downright awesome  validity to it.. and some balls.   Yes - that's right..  this statement has balls.
If we were to actually to live this way...  it would take some very dedicated, masculine intensity.
But what would happen?    How is it to live with an approach that says, (literally) "MAKE THE BEST OUT OF EVERYTHING YOU ARE GIVEN. LITERALLY."      Damn.. that is a challenge of the highest degree.  
    

I remember contemplating life for a month straight in Costa Rica..   I literally, set aside hours in my daily routine to go for a run,  and then sit and meditate.   I would clear my head, and focus seemingly every drop of my energy and intention on the parameters of existing.  For myself.   
And it was a fantastic, unbelievably perfect use of time..   it was a way to assess my body,  my spirit, my lifestyle,  my outlook,  my living arrangements,  my attitude, my purpose,  my perception, and the perception of myself that I offer towards others..   to observe it objectively, and to agree to it,  or to build a new agreement with a different way of existing. 
   And the more time I set aside to meditate on "Self" (godliness),  the more that phrase, "Make the best out of what you have."  kept wandering into my thoughts..    just nudging me,.. teasing me with the potential.   I began to admire it...  the idea that we are to take the fragments of our daily routines and build something with them...  not just "something",  but the "BEST" that they can be made into.     That is a powerful way of living..   and I want to be a part of it. 

This is very personal..    our BEST, is very personal.    
And that is what intrigues me the most...  "our best" involves a number of masculine qualities..
Integrity.  Intention.  Dedication.  Action...   things that I greatly admire. 
  "Make the best out of what you have.",  is this very intense, personal question..   it threatens our apathy, and challenges us to rise to OUR own version of BEST.
I like that about it.
I like that it doesn't leave room to look anywhere else,  or at anyone else's interpretation.
I like how it directly challenges us to consider and agree upon our magnificence..   either the muchness of it,  or the absence. 
What we make out of this moment...  is a metaphor for how we perceive ourselves.  



October is always my month of rebellion... trying things that I have not yet tried before. 
So I am trying this..  
"MAKE THE BEST OUT OF WHAT YOU HAVE."  

I am.  I dig it. 







Andrew Tipton