We've been planning our annual social calendar, and I never realized that our entire tv-broadcasting consumption revolves around the NBA. I'm sure the bodybuddy/lifemate has been aware of his lemming-like following of the entirety of the NBA season, but I didn't realize how much I like the NBA and want to be part of it.
Firstly, the schedule, as it stands, currently ::
New Year's Eve/Day — after spending our first NYE and NYD in Honolulu this past New Year's, we've definitely decided that how/where we spend the new year will be determined on a year-by-year basis
Snowmass Ski (except that we'll both be snowboarding) Trip — to be had during the last two weeks of January
New York Fashion Week — to be attended during the two weeks that this event happens in February with an eventual show of my own when I'm older as my Act III #goals
All-Star Weekend — to be attended wherever the event is happening on the Mainland on any given year, maybe we'll stay the week, maybe we'll only stay for the weekend
Cherry Blossoms in Spring — to be seen in early April during a few weeks in Seoul
The Finals — to be attended back on the Mainland, wherever the games are happening in May/June and that is also where the bodybuddy/lifemate's birthday week will be spent, unless he wants to do something additional specifically for his bday
Birthday Week — will be spent in Seoul until Christmas Day when ...
Christmas Day — will be spent wherever the hottest NBA game is being played
and then it's off to wherever we decide to spend New Year's on any given year.
And so, when I think of the luxurious dreams that I hope my life will someday afford, I am also becoming aware of what's important to me. And this is important, to me, because the sooner I can realize what does matter to me in my life (which, in itself is utterly meaningless) the sooner I can understand how to utilize the time that this life provides, because TIME is not your money,
TIME IS YOUR LIFE.
If you've found that you sorta just did what you thought everyone was supposed to do and you're now realizing that you haven't actually done anything that YOU want to do, and so, you find yourself to be deeply depressed by the state of your life (yes, of course, we all know you love your kids, etc., whatever), you can still make your life into whatever it is that you want from it, because you have TIME. As you live and breathe, time is on your side.
You may not have enough money, but you have time to acquire it. You may not have the exact skills you need to accomplish your dreams or even begin working toward them, but you have time to learn. You may think that you don't have very much time, but you don't need that much time to get started.
If you job for some company forty hours per week, maybe you start by spending five minutes a week working toward your dream. Then, eventually, maybe you need a part-time job because you have to work eight whole hours toward your dream. Then, eventually, maybe your dream is paying out two days worth of jobbing, so you can only job three days a week so that you can work two days a week, and eventually, you'll be working full-time toward your dreams. This is a multi-decade timeline, and if you don't like that this is a multi-decade timeline, then keep on doing you and listen to those stupid-ass internet people who have convinced you that you can somehow keep spending all the money you want (and more) and somehow become rich through your social media account. There's no such thing as getting rich quick.
Dream-chasing hinges entirely on your ability to live within your means.
Many many many years will go by when your work output will be the equivalent of a full week's work, but you will be making zero dollars, AND you will be jobbing some stupid job, which means that you will be working TWO jobs all week.
These people on the internet making it seem like they had some side hustle that suddenly blew up are lying to you. There was no sudden blow up. No going viral. They toiled and bled for decades until their business grew to the point where they could quit their day jobs and work their own businesses full-time. OR their "side hustle" isn't actually paying out the way they claim it is, cause you "fake it til you make it," right? Wrong. Yes, of course, some people get lucky, but if you're "poor" like I am (raised by a family with no capital and no connections) becoming rich is doubly difficult, because you were raised by people who don't know anything about money, and so, they don't teach you anything about money, thusly, you must both teach yourself about money, and then implement that teaching all by yourself, through your own rugged discipline. It's tough being relatively "poor" in this society that is only growing in inequity.
Rising, however, is kind of the point of These United States.
This is the place where anyone can be anything, where dreams come to thrive. Anyone telling you otherwise is a Bad American. Anyone believing that the system is rigged only against them and their ilk are deeply narcissistic. The System is rigged to allow those who make it, to stay. That's it. And there's no guarantee that if you do make it, you will stay. The likelihood is small that your fortune will survive beyond two generations.
In short, there are little to no barriers of entry into the upper echelons to those who are educated (either by themselves or others) except the inner-workings of each individual who tries. The inequity exists mostly because people are always going to want to help their family and friends first, aka nepotism.
But the reality is that nobody is going to help the person who doesn't even try.
[end note] i'm obviously not fucking talking to people trapped in systemic american poverty. i'm, obviously, speaking to those of us who would be considered "middle class" in a more evenly distributed economy but who are quickly slipping into "poor." this piece, in particular, is not about how gutted and terrible the social services are in these united states, because that is the real squeeze on the american public, not corporate greed. corporate greed is a given in these times of capitalism-as-usual. the laziness and corruption is happening within our own government, and its inability to get creative about how to reign in the obvious harms of complete privatization, etc. like, relax, every piece can't be about every single little fucking issue that's wrong with every single little fucking issue that's wrong with every single little fucking issue...like, duh.