"Contents of a Dead Man's Pocket"

So. We've been reading this story in English class (ew, I know) about this guy who gets stuck on a window ledge and has to break his window to get inside or something.... I don't know, truth be told, I haven't been paying attention.

What I do know, is that there's been a lot of discussion as a product of this story about "what would be found in your pocket if you jumped off a building accidentally fell and died?" and "what sort of self-searching do you do like [insert character name here]?" And it got me thinking.

You know, generally, as a rule, people aren't dumb enough to go crawling out on a window ledge to get a piece of paper that they've put notes for a huge part of their career on. For the most part, we don't get near-death experiences to tell us, hey, maybe you should look at your life, look at your choices, and reevaluate. But, you know what? We reevaluate our lives all the time anyway. Don't you dare tell me that you've never read a book that made you think, "Wow, what if I just got up and left? What if I could just pack a bag and go? What would I take with me?" Don't tell me that you've never gone through an "Oh, I'm going to Bullet Journal, and I'll be so productive this year and get all of my priorities straight it'll be wonderful." phase. Don't tell me that you've never held a baby in your arms and thought, "Holy heck. This is a little human, and one day this little human is going to be a big human and probably take over the world, and I haven't showered in three days." I've been there, believe me.

Anyway, the point is, we all do some self-searching sometimes. It doesn't have to be big, but all of us, at one point or another, have thought, hey, that would help me get my life together. Let's do that. and stuck with it for maybe a week. We all do it, it's nothing to be ashamed of. It doesn't take a near death experience, it takes a spurt of the creativity bug and some Internet searching. It takes a thought provoking book and some resolutions.

Basically, yeah, soul searching can be great. And sometimes, you can listen to it, use it, make yourself better with it. Some people use it to become minimalists, and that's great. You do you. But don't use your soul searching as comparing yourself to others, because that is when it stops being constructive. Use soul searching to better yourself, not tear yourself down. You're you. You're being you, and you're doing a fan-freaking-tastic job of it. Never let anyone tell you different.