#NerdsUnite: Work in Progress

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Jordan. He was one of the first writers here on TNTML and he's a really rad mofo. I forget how we first started talking - but he lives allllllll the way over in Kansas and wants to talk to you about life from his side of the monitor in the keyword of nerd. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT JORDAN!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @SaintPepsi

It seems like people want you to believe that what you see is what you get. Inherently, I believe this to be true. In fact, I rarely believe that people can change who they are at their core. If they are evil they can surely suppress it, but those desires will always be there. If they are good, they can do bad things. Still, a part of them will feel great regret and guilt for that. Don't get me wrong, certain events in a person’s life can derail their underlining character, but in general people are who they are and they don't change at their core. So why bother right? If we don't put who we are first and foremost you will only be living a lie. While that may be true, who we are now isn't who we were 10 years ago, 5 years ago, or even 1 year ago. We are now and forever will be a work in progress.

I have been drawing and in some form or fashion creating for the better part of my 30 years of existence. I look back to the art I did 10 years ago and it looks like a child drew it. I revisit things I wrote 1 year ago and find that not only has my ability to write, but even my use of grammar has strengthened. I have extended my vocabulary to better paint pictures for my audience.  I have many pieces that are still half written, and works or art with only a few colors left in a folder that hasn't been touched in ages. These are all works in progress. With each new article, poem, and painting I do, I grow. I take things I learned from the last one and apply it to the new piece. This is how life should be lived my friends. We are nothing if not works in progress.

With every mistake we make, we should not be disheartened. We should use what we learned despite the set-back and push forward from there. Always moving forward. Taking that solid core we have and using it like a cornerstone in a building. We start as feeble huts. With little knowledge to base our ventures on. We don't know what we like or what we believe yet. With ever great occurrence in our life; we tear down that previous structure and build up something stronger, something that can withstand the attacks of the over-zealous. We arm our hearts home with knowledge, we fortify ourselves with loved ones whom can aid us in troubled times, and we advance in life through the pursuits of our hearts. Creating things we find to be most intriguing.  That cornerstone remains unchanged and still we build upon it. We are ever a work in progress. This should not be looked down upon either.

The fact is as soon as we are content that life is as good as it gets, we have stalemated ourselves. We become lazy and we lose our lust for a life lead to the fullest. We stop being works in progress and find ourselves just being finished pieces. Leaving that as our bench mark for a life well lead. Looking back at that time, as the best time in our lives. For some this is the fantastic football career they had in high school, when they were crowned homecoming king. For others, that beautiful wedding to the one they have distanced themselves from ever sense. These perfect moments we hold aloft in our minds as the best that life had to offer. I acknowledge that there will be times in life that are far more exciting than others, not every moment in life can be filled to the brim with excitement. However, to believe that you have already lived life to the fullest. Well, that's just settling in and getting yourself ready to die. You may as well lie down in bed and lock that one memory into your mind and decide not to wake up, because you have just limited yourself to waiting for death. You become little more than the walking dead. A hollow shell of the vibrant being you used to be. 

We have so little time to indulge in life on this planet, that it seems a sad state to allow ourselves to stop advancing. There is always something new to learn, new feats to falter on and bruise your knees and ego. New heart houses to build. Life should be the pursuit of happiness always. Let me say simply that happiness is not just a distant memory, it is a living thing. Happiness is that beautiful woman that wants to be with you, but still wants you to chase after her. Giving to you and then running ahead forcing you to push past your insecurities and embrace the changes you were afraid to face before. It's there and it wants you to be so happy. It doesn't want you to be content with a memory that fades into the past like so many faces we see as we walk down the street.

So make mistakes. Embrace every failure as the next step towards happiness. Each time you stumble trying to achieve the dreams you have set, know that you are falling forward. Because the moment you are content to just be. That's when life stops and time starts in earnest. The hands on the clock seem to spin out of control as we set our sights on the afterlife at warp speed. Minutes become hours, hours become days, days to weeks, and weeks to years. Leaving you looking back and wondering where it all went. You don't want to Rip Van Winkle your life away, content to dream about better times and things. Not when you are a work in progress. When you die you want to look back at your story and know that death is just the period at the end of the final sentence. Punctuating a story that your friends and loved ones will tell to many and you know with that story you will have been granted immortality through fable.  Knowing as you close your eyes to this world others are opening theirs to the protagonist you became to them. Leading others through your example and leaving behind the blueprints that you had started with just a heart hut; allowing them to build their own happiness and heart enforced sky scrapers. Live life and die with a knowing smile on your face.

#nerdsunite

click here to follow Jordan on the twittah!

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