JumpStart Revenge of the Fifty Day (5/5/25)

QUOTE:  " Those who do not move do not notice their chains." (Rosa Luxemburg)

MESSAGE:  My mother always said that, “Not to decide is to decide.”  I always struggled with decisions, so I REALLY did not like it when she busted out that particular aphorism.

I think a lot of times, we are stuck with this pair of traits that keep us huddled under a weighted blanket and doom-scrolling: complacency and lack of self-discipline.

According to Dictionary.com, complacency is a “a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc.”
Combine that with the inability to correct or regulate oneself for the sake of improvement (modified from Merriam-Webster) and what’s the result?  People wasting their lives without even knowing it - they actually probably think they are living better and more fully than before.

I see that in people of all ages, including myself.  I have all these home projects to complete and books to read and skills to learn, but here I am telling my wife about the latest Reel I watched.

One thing I’ve learned about changing behaviors is that you can’t just eliminate a ‘bad’ one.  You have to intentionally replace it with something else or the lack of the expected behavior will cause others (probably also connected to the easy way) to come forward.  Figure out what behavior you’re going to do INSTEAD and start adding it into your schedule in place of the  unwanted one.
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THIS WEEK, TRY THIS:   What’s something you’ve been wanting to do, but ‘don’t have time for?’  (That’s code for ‘it’s not that important’).  What behavior can you replace with this dream of yours?

DAD JOKE:  I asked the librarian if there were any books on paranoia.  She whispered, "They're right behind you."