“You’re gonna be fine. And even if you’re not gonna be fine, isn’t it better to just exist thinking you’re gonna be fine, until it’s not fine, then you can just fucking handle it then.”
– Bill Burr
The struggle with this is internally, my mind hears this and instantly reaches to the cynical voice for validating if this is true or not.
‘It’s not healthy, you shouldn’t hide what’s going on really.’
‘Preparation for the worst is what stops the situation from going from bad to worse.’
A thousand other issues plague the quote, feasting on every syllable to pick the bones dry and know there is nothing to be learned.
What about —…What about—… A pause after all these thoughts give me reason to consider, what do I think he means? If I stop taking every word so literally and reasoning my way to disprove it.
We live in a cynical society, I was raised by cynics, turned cynical early myself, and maintain my cynicism as an adult. This shield of armour used by the masses works. If nobody had cynicism we would all be sending our bank details to every scam that floated across our inbox. I believe it has its place in our tool belt of skills we use to navigate, connect, and build our life how we wish it to be. But perhaps it should be a tool we reflect on how often we use and also consider if the opposite of our skepticism was true, what would that mean? Maybe sometimes I am throwing away the entire apple untouched, because I know you can’t eat the apple core.
What would be the meaning I would take from Bill’s quote, if I put my cynicism on the back burner for a moment?
Everyone has a lot of struggles/pressures bearing down on them, seen and unseen, regardless of appearances or lifestyle etc. This life is a wonderful thing, and a harsh reality at times too. There is no perfect life, suffering visits us all in different forms, often at unpredictable times. Yet we all keep moving forward, with tenacity in spite of this. So, we also don’t need to create additional torture devices of what may(or, may never) happen at an undisclosed time in our futures. Also, to some degree we forget our own strength and ability to take a setback and continue living, alongside our disappointment, until the good news calls back and lifts you back into the saddle. When something bad does happen, you’ll handle it then.
I love to plan and can fall far down the rabbit hole before I know it, of exploring every possibility and trying to create infinite solutions, yet the reality is I won’t need 99% of them. So shutting down that thought of every poisonous, shadowy scenario conspiring to make your life unbearable, is an act of courage. To not waste your present living in what pain may come, and if needed, reminding yourself with vigour and pronoia, of past examples you emerged the other side of a rough time, and that you have capabilities to deal with what may happen in future too, both the easy and the challenging.
Waste not, want not, there’s lessons to be learned from geniuses and fools alike.
Takeaway Points For A Close Friend:
- I wouldn’t abandon cynicism, but put it back in the tool belt every now and then to find a hopeful view.
- Life is at times tough for sure, we forget the days we have emerged on the other side too though, stay mindful of your ability to adapt and overcome.
- Searching for positivity in the now doesn’t mean adopting blindness to a negative possibility. Only not making your present uncomfortable unnecessarily in advance, just in case an undesirable outcome occurs.
The Ethnosphere 
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