I really enjoyed reading this blog. What I want to address in this response is one of the last questions that you brought up: Is any of this really under our control? Well, I don't think that we can control the fact that our minds are going to react to special events with anticipation. This is bound to happen as we look forward to anything. But what we can control is whether we anticipate the event with excitement or with dread. We do have the power to influence our minds in that way; even though we can't stop anticipation from happening, we can turn it into an exciting feeling.
In general, I enjoy anticipating events. The floaty-constant-joy feeling is well worth the price that it comes with. Because yes, even positive anticipation comes with a price: constant distraction. If it's for something really exciting, like an audition or a show or a contest, then it's all I'm able to think about. (I'm experiencing a glimpse of that right now with V-Show). And oftentimes, the time of anticipation leading up to the event is even more exciting than the event itself. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, I can't really tell. But a feeling of good anticipation has the power to overcome all sorts of problems that happen leading up to the event.
Jack's blog, An Inconvenient Truth: Success, was about the future, and how we define success. The world's definition of success isn't always guaranteed, but is that an accurate measure of how we feel about our own success? Is it defined by money, happiness, etc?
One thing you said was that none of this is set in stone. It's all deciding and guessing and uncertainty. The fact that anything can change at any given time makes me believe that everyone has a chance at success (unless, of course, they make blatantly unwise and foolish decisions). So maybe you're having a bad day, or a bad week, or even a bad year? Don't worry about that, it'll change soon enough. That's the thing about life, it's always changing, always throwing some people off, and always placing other people on the right track. We can't expect life to be perfect all the time, because then we wouldn't be able to feel "success" once we reached it. I think this is one way of knowing whether or not you've become "successful". Feeling yourself in a rut, lifting yourself out of that rut, and rising to new levels of happiness or intelligence or whatever else is important to you. I think that personally, I can measure my own success by how happy I am. If I'm miserable all of the time, then something's wrong with the way that I'm living, and it's time for a change. But if I'm feeling happy and full of energy every day, then maybe I should take a hint from myself and continue living this way, or at least incorporate these things that make me happy into my life as I grow older.
I've seen plenty of people that sacrifice their own happiness just to reach their own corrupt definition of "success". In most of these cases, their success was measured by money, or by something of that nature. But I don't feel that this is an accurate measure of success. You could be a billionaire and still be all alone and gloomy. Or you could be making just enough to get by, but have a loving family, a job that you love, and be the happiest person in the world. I guess the point is that not all of our futures careers are going to turn us into money making fiends. Some of us are going to be musicians, filmmakers, actors, etc. But as long as the career that we choose brings us joy and makes us feel content, then what else can we really ask for? If we aren't happy with our lives, then is life worth living at all?
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