Guest Post Thursday
Although the wise English idiom taught me not to, I find myself dying to know where my cousin Kyle came up with the title of his book. What is the title telling me…what is he hinting at? How will this overarching theme build within his characters? Why does Dub constantly reflect upon what he’s got, yet wishes he had something else? Will he never be happy? What can I learn from it all?
Just like any good little introvert, I’ve gone off on a societal tangent related to this title. Maybe in our lives there’s always conflict, always longing, always inadequacy, always unhappiness, always unrest, just like in Dub’s life, because we’re just not accepting of what we’ve got.
As optimistic and positive of a person I try to be, I still find myself using two very poisonous words in my daily vocabulary: “too” and “enough.” On first glance, these don’t sound so deadly, at least not as deadly as the Battle at Kruger.
But the more I tune into myself, the more I realize these words creep into my subconscious in basically every context. I think they creep into Dub’s, too. And yours, I’m sure. After all, complaining is what we do best, reader. How many times do you catch yourself peppering these words into your sentences & thoughts throughout the day? For example, in the past week or so I’ve caught myself saying or thinking all of these things about one thing or another:
too fat
too big
too small
too expensive
too slow
too much
too many
too far
too intense
too high
too busy
too overbearing
too bored
too kind
too short
too loud
too annoying
too mean
too risky
not enough time
not enough love
not enough appreciation
not enough money
not enough space
not enough rest
not enough recognition
not enough food
not enough exercise
not enough peace and quiet
not enough support
not smart enough
not fast enough
not easy enough
not caring enough
not healthy enough
not carefree enough
The list goes on and on. How can this be? How can we have too much yet not enough of so many things, how can we or he or she be too this or that yet not this or that enough all at once?
Besides, who is really defining what is enough, what is too much? Am I? Is society? Are you? Whose standards are we measuring ourselves up against? Wouldn’t we be happier if we were just accepting of what we’ve got?
We need to take honest stock of the things and situations we’re currently attaching these words to. Even if some person, thing, or situation we currently have in our lives is “too” or “not enough,” what we’ve got is likely better than not having it at all.
I wonder what Dub will be left with in the end. I can’t wait to find out.
