I'm sitting in the London Heathrow airport, awaiting my flight to Iceland. Feeling happy, excited, & inspired, as per usual. I'm reading this chapter of a book called "The Geography of Bliss" by Eric Weiner that Mama mailed me. It's all about Iceland--an examination of Reykjavek's existence of overloaded happiness.
Weiner traveled to the city--that I will be sleeping in tonight--and came to understand Iceland's secret to happiness: its people accept failure. They
encourage failure. Because, well, because the attempt at succeeding is more important than not attempting at all. Even if one knows they'll fail, much can be gained along the path of failure--thus suggesting nothing truly seems to yield failure alone. Well, it seems that's how an optimist would see it.
That's how I see it.
It's the norm in Iceland, according to Weiner's findings, to have multiple "identities". Ergo, doctors are not merely just doctors. Musicians are not just musicians. Mail men are not just mail men. All are artists, all are poets, all are so spiritually connected to their surrounding nature that is Iceland. All are human.
I can identify with them, completely. I am an Icelander. Most of us are, I bet. Well, at least, most of us
want to be. It depends on weather we act upon our genuine ambitions or not.
America has contructed our society to be so damn focused on single specialties, to the point where its inhabitents are literally encouraged to mute their strengths & passions that are unrelated to a predetermined motive.
This is the issue I have with the life I've been constructing for myself these past two years in college--ever since I changed my major from English to Geology. As a Geology major, I have forced myself to suppress my artistic passions: writing, photography, music. As well as community service, psychology, and non-profit work. And I blame this on myself. But my own case of discarding my passions is one that is far too common in America's society. This, then, says something about our developmental layout as a culture.
It's not fair for our society to enforce this obsessed, miniscually-focused lifestyle among us. And it's not fair for us to follow-out our society-driven life paths rather than our personally-driven ones. We're the ones limiting ourselves, really, just with the help & genesis of our social construct. It's hard
not to limit oneself when pondering the ideal success story.
I want to be a Geologist, yes. But it's hard for anyone to become extraordinary at a sole path when the mind isn't focused on that path alone. And mine isn't even close.
Art has limited me.
Art has built me.
I'm an artist. Maybe more so than a scientist. Definitely more so than a scientist. But, I've been suppressing my artistic motives for the past two years for the purpose of achieving scientific success. For the purpose of achieveing American society's definition of success.
We all have various strengths across a vast spectrum of topics, but it is our own fault for suppressing any that we internally wish to externally share. It would be easy for me to blame society for my lack of artistic endeavors during these past two years, but that wouldn't be fair, as it is I who has chosen to follow society's guidence & discouragement.
Easy fix? Time to get that artistic mind rollin' again.
See you in six hours, Reykjavek!
