Carpe Diem

Living life the right way.



A little while ago, a classmate of mine said something that stuck with me. On the subject of how we conduct ourselves on a "regular, boring" day, this classmate spoke up after the prompt was answered with brief silence. He said that he didn't know how to answer the question because he didn't think it applied to his life. I believe the direct quote is, "My days are a lot of things, but they're not boring."

I don't know what it is about that line, but there's an almost stinging poeticism about it. "Stinging," of course, because not many of us can claim that we have lives that don't have boring days - or even that our regular routine is anything but boring. There is, I believe, an assumption present in the prompt that was given to us. It presupposed that people have boring days, that having "boring" days is a normal part of everyday life. The minutia of waking up in the morning, showering, getting dressed, eating breakfast, going to work/school, eating lunch, going home, and falling asleep can so often get rote and repetitive. It's hard not to view what one does in their daily life as something that is "boring."

Yet my classmate can make the claim that their days are "many things" but they are explicitly not "boring." What can we gleam based off of this statement alone? Well, quite a lot, actually. It speaks to his motivations, that each day has to be seized. Doing nothing and being idle is about as terrible a crime as any for one to commit, since one isn't living their life in an active way that is engaged with the larger world. How many days can you say that you just woke up during summer break and did nothing but browse Reddit and play video games? How many days just flit by and pass without anything of substance happening. Wake up, shower, eat breakfast, etcetera.

I find myself sometimes watching the videos of one Casey Neistat, a popular Youtuber who enjoys documenting his daily life. For a long time, Casey has a daily vlog that would showcase the various things that he'd be up to during the day. Rarely are the things displayed ever boring, often with crazy stunts or going to exotic locales or seeing an early screening of a movie or even something as simple as cruising through New York City on his skateboard or going in-depth on a personal bit of philosophy. Seeing Casey go on all of these nutso adventures can often give one the sense that they're sorely missing out on life. How awesome must this guy's life be that he gets to have such fabulous things happening to him on a daily basis, with a happy wife and son, no less?

But I think that's the wrong lesson to gleam from Casey Neistat and the last thing he'd want is for people to feel like they're being pressured to live life a certain way because of his videos. Instead, what he teaches us - and what is implicit in the statement that my classmate made - is this: that leading a sedentary life, aimless and with no wonder is ultimately a lesser existence than having a diligent, attentive mind that wants to engage with the world in a meaningful way. It's the same thing that the Jesuits train you to do. Examine every facet of your day and how you can be better, then improve yourself. Simple as that.

Well, it's not that simple, but it's a good start. And, in the end, that's what everybody needs.