Now that I'm old enough to somewhat vividly recall the world 20 years ago, I can see that my worldview had yet to be blown up by life's letdowns. The Braves were World Series champions, pro wrestling proved that the good guys always won and I was on track to play both pro football and baseball while defending the WWF Championship in my spare time.
20 years into the future and reality hasn't only set in- it beat down the door, snatched the TV remote and made itself sandwich.
I wish could warn 6 year old me about what was next. The Braves will never be better, Hulk Hogan’s a racist and the road towards all you aspire to become runs straight through a cubicle. The horror.
In actuality, childhood was fun. Naps in school, little to no homework and having tons of energy were all great, but they were enough. Something else, a milestone or new place we heard about from an older sibling or saw on TV didn't just take the fun out of where we were- it made it look like a punishment.
In 8th grade, high school was the
next big thing. Then it was getting a
license, followed by going to college, then graduating from college and ending with getting the right job. Step after step, the next seeming better than the last but each leaving us needing more. Access to the stuff we really want feels impeded by the
things we actually have. But in the mad pursuit of what’s next, we’ve neglected to enjoy what’s now.
I don’t think happiness has to permanently reside in the
future. There are worthwhile moments,
relationships and experiences we can grab right where we are today. Some of these opportunities weren’t possible
last year and won’t be around in one year or even a single day. A lot of these won’t seem shareable on Instagram or up
to par with where your friends appear to be, but looking at situations side by side is useless and unhealthy. Over time I’ve learned that true
contentment dies with comparison.
We
have the choice to yearn for what was, regret could’ve been or hope for what still might happen, but why do that when a better alternative exists? By
acknowledging who we are and what we can do, we empower ourselves to not worry about
what’s not gone/not here and take full advantage of we have right now. Don't merely exist in the present; invest in it.
I've finished more books in the last four years I did in my entire college career.
Required reading in college was a real struggle, but one that I actually managed to get through. The admittedly small handful of books I've finished since college have had a much greater impact on my life than the dozens I read in school.
Two of those inspiring works were written by Paul Angone, an author with a great understanding of the challenges that life in your twenties brings for many of us. I highly suggest you buy his books and follow him on Twitter, but for now check out these praiseworthy quotes from the final chapter of All Groan Up: Searching for Self, Faith and a Freaking Job!", with some follow up thoughts from me below each.
"I was strategically settling for a season to work on a new route toward the dream I felt I was not supposed to let go of."
Waiting for the perfect job kept me in an imperfect one for way too long. On the worst days, it was tempting to fantasize about my next stop: a job that requires all of my talents with management that accepts (and gives me credit for) all of my ideas.
All this plus no night or weekend hours work with a reverse commute from an immaculate downtown condo.
I let my distaste for a job that I couldn't stand allow me to lust for one that didn't exist. Accepting that there is no perfect job will not only make a truly toxic work environment more bearable, it'll also open your mind to a greater number of career moves that'll get you out of that hell hole a lot quicker.
"I stopped waiting for a publisher's permission to tell my story and just began sharing it."
One of my biggest insecurities is feeling that I need a huge audience for anything I create to really matter, as if it's only legit if the masses bear witness. By waiting for a stamp of approval, whether it's from an employer, guy/girl or whomever, we make ourselves slaves to whatever it is that can open the door to what we're fighting for. Do what ever it is that you do, even if it's on a small scale for now.
"All the dark and dismal places of defeat that I'd frequently visited were helping show people a way out of theirs."
To phraphrase Andre 3000, we all want to go to heaven but nobody wants to die. Every inspiring story that motivates us all to push through hard times needed someone to, well, actually suffer first. There's great value in not being born into limitless opportunities, resources and fortune; those who are don't always fare well. See.
"...at 5:00 a.m., on lunch breaks, late into the night, I was still writing. It had become something I could not NOT do."
My last job required a huge time commitment outside of normal working hours. This forced me to really place a premium on time I spent away from work- every hour had to have a purpose, even if it was for rest.
Recovering spare time is like collecting loose change. Bit by bit it doesn't seem like much, but eventually you realize that you've saved enough to get something worthwhile. An easy way to start: don't spend your full lunch hour eating a sandwich. Go hustle (a tip I first borrowed from Jon Acuff).
"I've learned that most of the time we don't choose between chasing our dream and paying the bills. We do both at the same time."
In my senior year at Georgia College, I developed a fear of what I thought was a terrible fate- working a job I didn't love so I could pay bills. Back then, I couldn't imagine that any decent person would settle for a job that did not offer great personal fulfillment and also be impressive enough to get lots of likes on Linkedin. Later that year, I ate chicken wings from a takeout box I thrown in the trash and quickly decided that wasn't about that starving artist life. So I graduated and took a job that didn't do much besides pay for rent and groceries (which is of course is A LOT) while also finding opportunities outside of work to pursue my passions. In other words, I wore suits and wrote blogs... at the same damn time.
"...the detours we'll come across along the way aren't distractions from our dreams... they lead straight to the heart of them."
Years (months? Please, God?) from now, I'll tell you all of those up and down life experiences I had post-graduation were used to write that awesome TV show/book/movie that everyone's talking about. I'll sit on the couch with Jimmy Fallon and laugh about the manipulative, insecure work people, small town slum lords and bad decisions I made all on my own that shaped the wacky characters America's fallen in love with. My success, I'll tell the world, is owed to all the stuff I hated in the moment but value in the present. The camera will lock onto my face close enough for you to see that I truly mean every word of it. You'll know I do because you read me say as much on a free blog site well before my stupid 20s made any sense.
This Sunday, WWE will present the 28th annual Royal Rumble. Each event (first presented as a cable special, then a pay per view and now available via the WWE Network streaming app) is headlined by the Royal Rumble match, a 30 man over-the-tope rope battle royal.
The prize for the winner started as essentially nothing, morphed into bragging rights, was the actual WWF(E) title for a year before settling as a shot at the world championship at Wrestlemania, wrestling's Super Bowl.
The Rumble match stands as a yearly highlight for WWE fans not only because it usually determines the Wrestlemania main event but also because it's also probably the most fun hour of wrestling they'll watch all year. It's all the ridiculousness of the company's over the top production- weird characters, great athleticism, elaborate entrances- packaged neatly into one match.
If you haven't watched wrestling in a while, or ever, the Rumble is the perfect time to get caught up on the year's happenings, or just have a quick one off viewing session. It intentionally competes against nothing (the AFC/NFC championship games are the week before, the Super Bowl the week after) so you can likely DVR anything else you would've watched instead. Should you choose to tune in, here's what to look for.
Who's number one?
WWE logic says that drawing number one is bad luck for obvious reasons: the poor sucker who picks first has to survive the entire match, whereas everyone after entrant #2 can have at least some rest. However, the list of superstars who've kicked off the match is basically an all-star team:
Ric Flair '93
Shawn Michaels '95 (won), '04
Undertaker '08
Rey Mysterio '09
CM Punk '11, '14
Other examples include guys who were lower-tiered at the time (Bret Hart '91, Triple H '96) who would go on to become mega stars. In good Rumble matches, the top draw is either a guy everyone recognizes as a star or is the next man in line for a big promotion to scrapping with the top dogs. The rare exceptions (Crush '97, Rikishi '02) show that when WWE breaks this rule they really break it by nailing it with a sledge hammer, running it over with a Hummer and lighting it on fire... all actions that have coincidentally happened on other wrestling shows over the years.
Prediction for '15: Dean Ambrose is the superstar who'll draw number one. He'll start the match with the second man up, Bray Wyatt.
The non-wrestler/woman/midget entrant
Wrestling, historically, is always welcoming to diversity (*sarcasm*). The Rumble match is no exception, where since Chyna's entry in 1999 we've seen several unusual appearances. Announcers (while calling the match), leprechauns and even Vince McMahon himself have all made their way into the fray. Insiders within wrestling's audience hold the belief that this type of tomfoolery gives McMahon, the eccentric owner both on and off screen, a good laugh. This guarantees at least one odd entry every year.
Prediction for '15: J & J Security, who were actually full-time wrestlers not too long ago but now serve as bumbling lackeys.
The fat guy never wins
You'd think that a big guy would have a noticeable advantage in an athletic competition that involves lifting other combatants over your shoulders and tossing them to the floor, but that's not the case here. With the exception of Yokozuna (600lbs) in 1993, the biggest man in the match has never actually won. That list includes 7-footers Andre the Giant and the Big Show, along with classic fat men of yesteryear like King Kong Bundy, Mabel and the two nameless Squat Team members.
Prediction for '15: Big Show reprises his role. Again.
The class reunion
Some old guy WWE legend will make an unexpected run down the ramp after years out of the ring. He won't win.
Prediction for '15: The Philadelphia crowd boos loudly when Terrell OwensKobe BryantSanta Claus Batista makes his way to the squared circle.
Stupid tag teams
Most tag teams (notable exceptions being Legacy in '09 and The New Nexus in '11) decide that the best time to break apart is against 28 other guys in the middle of the Rumble. The wrestling equivalent of friends splitting up in a horror movie, this is quite possibly the worst strategy in the history of all fights. This doesn't only make sense for established teams to try; theoretically any group of Rumble participants could benefit. Just once I'd like to two non-tag wrestlers enter within the first five spots and proceed to pick off 10 consecutive opponents before a big name guy enters and holds his own until things even out. It's one of my big wrestling pet peeves- common sense, or what someone would do if it were real, isn't written into the script often enough.
Prediction for '15: A double take: The getting stale team of Gold/Stardust apply the aforementioned self-defeating tactic and take each other out of the match. Then, Miz and Damien Mizdown team to beatdown a few others before the inevitable spot where Miz gets tossed out and Mizdow (his stunt double) doesn't follow suit.
Kofi Kingston justifying his annual salary in one night
Prediction for '15: Kofi gets an assist from New Day teammate Big E who gives Kofi a piggy back ride into the ring.
Glenn Jacobs: WWE's Madonna
This year marks Rumble number 18 for Glenn Jacobs a.k.a. Issac Yankem, "Diesel", Kane and now... Corporate Kane (creative fatigue?). Always a new look, but still the same guy.
Prediction for '15: Kane enters around 15 and gets rid of a replaceable fan favorite. He hangs around for 12 minutes before one of the recently "fired" superstars, probably Dolph Ziggler, returns to eliminate him.
The guy who cleans house
Sometimes the Rumble lulls itself to the point where you ask yourself "wait, when did 12 guys get in the ring?" In comes WWE's latest star project, one who possesses the prototypical super human height and muscle mass that the company traditionally values in its stars, to clear the ring of your least favorite wrestlers and the absurd thoughts you had of them actually surviving to win.
Prediction for '15: This sequence was made for Rusev. He's not garnered enough cache with the crowd to win the match but has got enough credibility to wipe out a gang of lesser competitors in short order.
The chosen one
Eventually (total run times for the 30-man version of the match has varied from 38 minutes to just over an hour) the last remaining entrant is declared the winner of the Royal Rumble. We've seen WWE fill this spot with up and comers, but the three most recent winners were all well established stars: Batista, John Cena and Sheamus.
This year's Rumble winner could go either way- long standing rumors have the polarizing, company backed Roman Reigns as the favorite, but the surprise return of last year's Wrestlemania headliner Daniel Bryan has some calling him the likely winner. With less than a week to go until showtime, there's still not a consensus as to who'll be the man for this year's show. With WWE likely seeking a substantial increase in subscribers for the WWE Network, don't expect them rely on an unproven commodity to win and co-headline its biggest show of the year.
Prediction for '15: Daniel Bryan wins the Royal Rumble match.
