Daring Greatly and Unchaining Yourself Smartly

Recently, I realized that in Czech, we have a synonymous imperative for "to dare" and "to untie/to unchain". This got me thinking further, as to really dare and try something new, you have to unlink yourself from the comfort of your current status quo. As the old adage goes, you are more likely to regret the fact you did not do something, rather than if you actually did it. It is a sound strategy, except for the cases where you end up in jail, but exceptions even to that could be found. Aside from law, there is a number of things that can influence our decision making in getting what we want.

On the "virtuous" side of things, this would mean not getting drunk on a party when you are the designated driver. You would hold onto your promise, even though everyone around you seemed to be having the time of their lives. You would suck it up, open your non-alcoholic beer and do the "right thing".

Being on the "depraved" side would mean doing the opposite by abandoning your promise. You would get soused, despite telling your friends you would drive, therefore interfering with plans of other people. If you would do this enough times, you would soon end up either with having no friends or people who can't be trusted.

On the "neutral" side, we could have anxiety - a motivator for some and a bogey for others. Depending on how we frame it, we can either use the surge of its energy to propel us, or get overwhelmed by it and get stopped dead in our tracks.

There are also exogenous tools, such as drugs, to help us frame situations differently, most commonly alcohol. What alcohol does is that it gets us rid of anxiety and makes us be more in the moment/not care about the future.

However, overdo it with alcohol and you are going to wake up with nasty side effects. That can go as far as doing something illegal and getting caught. And then, interestingly, being on drugs is generally an aggravating circumstance, because you willingly reduced your ability to make rational (long-term) decisions, manipulated your motor abilities and deviated from your usual (lawful) behavior.

As humans, we are wired to feel more negative emotion than positive. It is what made us successful in spreading throughout the globe and dominate the most immediate range of size neighboring us. So far, we cannot build planets on the galactic level or stop aging on the cellular level. We've also been granted the ability to conceive of the future and we're stuck with it - for better or for worse. We have to realize that the hem of consciousness is just a thin lining, separating us from the core of primordial unconsciousness.

So even if you get drunk/tipsy or high just a few times a year, try to watch yourself. Remember those moments and own the actions you have done. Don't be like Homer who once famously remarked: "It's not my fault, alcohol made me drunk!" Substance use does not absolve you of responsibility in the face of law, nor in the face of others and, most importantly, nor in your own subjective morality.