Today’s society is addicted to High-C. We thirst for it. We crave it. Some of us could not move forward without it. It is the main course of our diet and we consume a lot of it. Unfortunately, this High-C doesn’t come in delicious flavors like fruit punch, orange, or Ecto Cooler. It cannot be found in small juice boxes or the old-school, large 46 ounce cans. (Do you remember those large cans? You had to use the can opener in two places on the top in order for it to pour easily. I have many great memories of drinking Hi-C from my childhood.) The High-C I am referring to is a completely different thing. It isn’t liquid, you won’t find it on display and it is very bad for your life.
The High-C I am referring to has 5 ingredients. Each one, in its own way, can have a negative affect on us and keep us from experiencing the greatest things in life. We must understand these ingredients in an effort to ween ourselves from the desire we have to fill our bodies and souls with it daily.
Convenience – We all want convenience. In some instances we are obsessed with it. The world we live in centered around instant gratification and on-demand. I can order my groceries online, go through drive-thru windows, and instantly connect with people via a cell phone and social media. Are you a slave to convenience? What if I hid your phone? Would you freak out? What if you lost your television remote control? If you are like me, you will search frantically for it. You will remove couch cushions, dig through old food and change down in the seats, look under the chair and everywhere until you find it. In the process, you walk by the TV 10-15 times without changing the channel or adjusting the volume. We want convenience in all aspects of life. In our jobs. In our hobbies. In our relationships. We are willing to step forward to help people in need when it is convenient for us. We don’t want it to ruin our plans. We want to do it when we want to do it. This isn’t how life works and relationships definitely do not work that way. You will be needed and asked to do things at the most inconvenient time and that is fine. We need to be willing to be inconvenienced.
Comfort – The bed you sleep in, the clothes you wear, the people you associate with make you comfortable. We crave comfort. The chair you have in your home is a Laz-y Boy. It isn’t called “Hard as a Rock and will Hurt your Ass.” The shoes you are wearing right now you purchased because they felt good and didn’t hurt your feet. We want comfort. When we go to a business conferences or events where everyone is a stranger we tend to sit next to people who look like us, dress like us, and act like us. Why? Because it makes us comfortable and most us spend the majority of our lives living inside a very small comfort zone. That zone will rob you of some of the greatest moments you could experience in life. We have to embrace the uncomfortable and experience new things, meet new people and gain new perspective on life.
Consistency – We are creatures of habit. We like routines, schedules, and having control. We want consistent officiating at our sporting events and the milk aisle to stay in the same place at our neighborhood grocer. Consistency allows us to predict the future and have control over life. I think that consistency is a virtue and it has value, but inconsistency is also a good thing. We need inconsistency to create new thought patterns and perspectives. We need to embrace inconsistency by surrendering to the fact that we don’t always know where we are going, what the answer is, or that we need control. Sometimes we need to stumble around in the bushes for a while before we find the trail we are supposed to take. Being consistent is great, but changing our mind is just as important in life as making it up. Never give in to popular belief due to pressure, but constantly question your own beliefs and morals. Ask how they’re serving you and what they’re really doing to make the world a better place.
Conventionality – We like normal. We “do things the way we have always done them”. We live by traditions. The “normal” that exists in today’s world is filled with hate, violence, sex, excuses, deceit, and the list goes on. I don’t want to be normal in this world. I strive to abnormal, unconventional, and weird. We need new, outside-the-box thinking that challenges the old way in order to move forward. We need more people who will dance in public, find joy in the mundane, and take risks that make our communities better.
Cosmetically – Fake it until you make it. Instagram filters. Photoshop. Breast enhancement. Botox. Liposuction. Need I say more. Our world is obsessed with how we look. We buy things and wear things to impress people that we do not necessarily like. Men and women are battling body image concerns, depression and anxiety because they are trying to fit in and fit the mold. We need to spend less time on what we look like and how we look to others. Lets be comfortable in our skin and be real. Real is what this world needs.
A High-C diet can be harmful to our bodies and to our lives. I am not saying that all of these things are bad. I am simply saying that we need to consume them in moderation. If you want to live your life to the fullest, you need to be inconvenienced, uncomfortable, inconsistent, unconventional and real. Trust me. Life transformation can, and will, happen when you are.
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