I read a story not that long ago about a guy who was dedicated to making sure time didn’t pass him by. He noticed, like I’m sure we all have, that when he becomes comfortably situated in his lifestyle, time just seems to fly. The unbroken, even monotonous, nature of time means that we can settle into a pattern. One minute it’s all new and exciting, and the next you’ve been in the same place for four years.
So every day, this guy did something that scared him. I remember the story mentioned he would sometimes just lie down in some (relatively) untraveled street. Two minutes of complete vulnerability in a road can really impact how long a day really feels. He used intense discomfort and fear in order to gain a better perspective on time itself.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you go out and put yourself in physical danger in order to appreciate time more fully. But his basic proposition is much less extreme. Do something every day that scares you.
It’s like all those analogies about pearls and coal. Sometimes the most beautiful and precious things grow from the constant irritation or pressure that surrounds us. In fact, it seems that discomfort is a necessary part of life. Without a challenge to where or who we are, there is much less of a reason for personal progress.
This concept, especially at college, carries particular connotations for our development in terms of intellect and character. Sometimes it is better to engage with that difficult idea or circumstance rather than maintaining a comfortable and unchallenged experience.
Here at the university – perhaps for the first time – we are presented with the tremendous problems of society as well as the true depths and limitations of our understanding. It can be very easy to fall into a complacency of cynicism. We are a generation thoroughly smug.
It is always going to be harder to stand for something than to smirk at everything. It is always going to be more dangerous to believe in something than to maintain a healthy skepticism. But to deconstruct every answer without the willingness or guts to reconstruct in its place is to bulldoze through a junkyard in order to erect an empty parking lot.
This could be what you do – every day – that is utterly terrifying. Rather than merely becoming a repository of information, you can choose to act upon it . . . even if that action is only in your head. Weigh an issue dispassionately, but passionately make a decision. It’s just as important to be decisive as it is to be informed in your decision-making processes.
In the end, rather than asking you to lie down on a physical road, I’m asking you to walk down an intellectual one. Develop the habit of challenging your habits. After all, we are what we repeatedly do. Push past cynicism to the challenge of conviction. Even if you end up changing your mind later . . . that change is worth more than every comfort that skepticism can offer.
Originally published in the Willamette Collegian.