Somewhere to go, pt. 2

Yeah, I did it again, one of those annoying two-part blog posts that leaves you wondering why I didn't just do it in one blog post. Unless you don't think that, in which case, yeah, I did it again, one of those awesome two-part blog posts that exists as two separate posts because the ideas are different enough to have their own space, yet connected to be considered one and the same. Or something like that.

Anyway, the beginning of part one. You can't get lost without having somewhere to go. This is a revelation that I came to, or came to me, a couple of months ago. It made a lot of sense to me, and seemed like a phrase that was already spoken and put on bumper stickers and the like. Nothing. Which is cool because it's totally my idea now. For the other three things, the Lost video, the quote from Jim Valvano, and lyrics from "Lost?" by Coldplay (I use "?" because that's the version I was listening to just now)...those are just the three things I thought of, independent of each other. I was reminded of Locke telling Sun how he stopped looking, I recalled Jimmy V talking about where he came from, and I've always liked the first two lines of "Lost?". But as far as what this is about...

Three years ago, I started this blog, which means that I've been blogging for three years. It's been fun, and something that I'm incredibly glad I did and kept up with. It's helped me to put some things in perspective, spread ideas that I have about things, and has been a neat filing cabinet for anything of relative importance that I've thought and sent out to the public sphere in the past three years.

So much of how we perceive our lives is up to our own, personal interpretation. For example, take this picture. If you're this person, what are you thinking? My sport psych professor showed us this picture, and my first reaction was something like let's go. Other people said that that was a long way to run, and one person said something to the effect of "good thing I just finished my run." Think about what each of those different thoughts means, and the kind of mindset you're taking on as a result. Think about the Red Sox, who lost 93 games in 2012, and yet, in July, far from a guaranteed 2013 postseason, the Red Sox clubhouse was gearing up for a parade. Every day was another day closer to the parade, because that's the mindset that team set out to have.

At some point in your life, you will feel lost. You have probably already felt lost at some point before now, and you probably will feel lost at some point after now. You might even feel lost reading these words, wondering how any of this might actually help you find your way. These words aren't helping you. You are helping you - your thoughts, your interpretation, your mindset. Sure, you might be lost. But you can't be lost without having somewhere to go.