We are a generation of consumerism, in every sense. Consumed by materialism. Consumed by media. Consumed by perceptions. Consumed with ourselves. Consumed by the world at our fingertips. Consumed nonetheless.
In the face of consumption, we come to the conclusion that we are busy. And to a point we are. We busy ourselves with concern for the up and coming, the new, ourselves. We are busy in the sense that we seem to have a great deal to do; we keep ourselves occupied. In this “busyness” we find little time to stop and think. So instead we stall. We sit on thrones of glory where, if we manage to escape the ecstasy of our phones, we can be free to what our parents told stories about: thought.
Stalling. It is quite relieving, really.
In these short spurts of undisrupted reality found on the toilet, or in the shower, we are opened up to our cosmic mind. Here we become philosophers, seekers of knowledge. Rather than being prompted by the blur of technology on what to think, we begin to ask questions. They may start simply. But they are of importance still. And they build and grow and morph. And then time’s up, back to that abyss of depriving joy.
But in that time stalling in the bathroom stall, we might manage to ask these questions (to some we find answers and for others we aren’t so lucky):
What am I doing? Why am I doing what I am doing? What are other people doing? What are other people thinking? Why might they be thinking what they are thinking? What is the relation between my thinking and theirs? What is the importance of my thinking? Their thinking? (And so it continues…)
And we come to the conclusion that:
In life, we come to grow in our knowledge. Our ignorance is slowly bleached away, whether we want it to be or not. Our experiences, bad and good, terrific and horrible, build and shape us. Despite our desire, we all grow old, worn down and tired by the memories that we’ve acquired over the course of our insignificant, yet beautiful, trek through the wonder that is called life. We become fascinated and horrified, with both the sights of miracles and tragedies, throughout the days we are blessed to live. Our lives are made up of stories, and eventually, when the dirt of this earth is done with us, our lives will be simply that just a story, that like us, in time, will also breathe its last breath.
Wow, what a thoughtful thought. And then our phones buzzes, Cute Crush #3 just sent us a snap. We stand up and flush the toilet, letting it drain with a mighty roar, taking with it our thoughtful thought. Later that evening, as we step into the shower, we remember "I thought something worth thinking about today," but it is already too late. So instead we look forward to this new time of stalling, but are still too consumed with its impending end to remember our new thoughts. Still too consumed with a potential snap from Cute Crush #3, Kylie Jenner, Tasty recipe videos, the newest sloth meme, and reaching 200 likes on that Instagram picture of the toes of our boots in a pile of bronzing leaves, we forget.
So in this personal time of stalling, I ask:
When do we start consuming in our thoughtful thoughts and start doing in order to allow such thoughts to refresh our reality, instead of refreshing our feed?
