contrariwise

"Contrariwise, if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."-- Lewis Carroll

I find that I spend a lot of time thinking about The Way Things Should Be. Or better yet, The Way Things Could Have Been. This leads to avoidance, regret, rumination, all manner of mental acrobatics. And I am left holding the reality that, like it or not, I have this truth that I must live with, and that is that life is sometimes hard and always imperfect and yet, we have the right and the obligation to make it worthwhile. In the middle of a game of 52-card pickup (which has no right to be called a game, as it's merely a way that the obnoxious kid at school taunts the compulsive kid with a knack for cleaning up), you can stare ponderously at the upset pile of cards spread out on the floor, feeling sorry for yourself because, after all, it's unfair that you should have to pick up a deck of cards that someone tossed in the air for fun. Or, you can be a pragmatist and get to the task of picking up the cards. 

We humans tend to congregate around the water cooler and complain. We call it "venting" and pretend it's good for us, but what starts as a healthy airing of emotions soon turns into dwelling on the negative and getting stuck in it. I have been caught in that trap before, that murky quicksand of "why me." People wonder about those who are too optimistic, and we often bond by complaining, whether it's about tests or work or feeling tired. On a similar note, I sometimes find myself with so much school work to do before I leave to babysit that I am too overwhelmed to do anything but take a nap to avoid it all. And how does this help me? I later realize, when I wake up groggy and still not having accomplished anything, that I'm further behind than before.

So where do I go from here? Start from the beginning. And keep walking.

“The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. 'Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?' he asked. 'Begin at the beginning,' the King said gravely, 'and go on till you come to the end: then stop.'”-- Lewis Carroll