Fantasy vs. Reality

Shouldn’t I have happiness, zero stress, loving family, welcoming friends, a killer body, beauty to make fashion models blush, money as if it grew on trees in my expansive grove, etc.?

The line between fantasy and reality can blur and remain obscured.  Sometimes I feel like I’m the main character in a chase scene.  You know what I mean; the ones that bring the heroine close to destruction – pulse racing, defibrillator at the ready as property and casualty underwriters cringe and shudder anticipating impending property damage.  Why are the men the only ones featured in these white-knuckle scenes?  Is it that the women might handle the situations differently and not go off half-cocked?  Or maybe we have better things to do than hurtle through crowded streets at break neck speed chasing or being chased for doing something supremely macho and maybe borderline absurd.

Reality check is our friend although the prognosis may not be as promising as we would hope.  Living outside the bubble of reality is okay if you write fiction (yes I’m guilty as charged) but not good if you are attempting to assimilate.  Difficult to blend if you have no idea the ingredients.  You don’t want to pour vinegar in a cake mix.  Nor do you want to dump heavy cream into traditional spaghetti sauce.

How are you getting along among this dizzying array of options and alternatives?  Have you figured out what works for you without causing you to glow like a reindeer’s nose in a white out blizzard?

It’s hard to deal when surrounded by pedestrians craving attention and willing to wear whatever affirms their physical existence.  It’s not what’s in the store window.  Rather the quality of the inventory is what keeps people coming back.  So you may attract attention but is it the right flavor of attention?  Enduring accomplishment far outweighs flash-in-the-pan fleeting popularity.  Are you entertainment for others or do you have depth and relevance that transcends the immediacy of the moment?

I know, reality hurts sometimes.  I’ve been stung as you have.  No I’m not morose or maudlin.  I’m recalibrating my perspective.  That’s not only nice, it’s necessary if we are to be mainstays on the stage of life.  Yes we are all actors and actresses.  Scenes change and we must adapt.  If we don’t we risk being written out of the next scene.

Don’t let life’s playwright decide to dial back your relevance.  Give the director every incentive to maintain your character and expand its relevance.  Let’s be in this for the long haul.  Act the part and you’ll definitely be invited back for the next season, and so on and so forth.

Live, laugh, love and do it with your heart and mind.

Love and hugs, Nikki DiCaro