Getting What You Want In Life

Imagine you’re standing on one end of a very narrow valley, with sheer, unclimbable rocks to either side of you. You can’t turn back, and you can’t climb the rocks. You don’t even want to. Instead, you want to get to the other side of the valley. That’s your goal.

There are several problems, however.

First, between you and the other end of valley are all kinds of obstacles. There are pits, crevasses, huge boulders, dense thickets, and all kinds of obstructions. As a matter of fact, from where you stand to where you want to go, it looks pretty much impassable. At a minimum, it’s going to take much more work than you were planning on.

The second, and perhaps worse problem, is that you’ve seen recent pictures of the other side, taken from people who have already arrived there. It’s nice, but it’s not exactly what you wanted. The picture you had in your mind of what would be perfect is quite different from how the other end of the valley actually is. Once upon a time, the other end of the valley was your image of perfection, but today, it’s not. It’s still really good, and much better than where you are now, but it’s not exactly what you wanted.

When faced with this scenario, human beings form several groups.

The first group is the defeatists. They look at all the obstacles between here and there and declare that it’s literally impossible to get to the other side of the valley. Sure, a few other people have arrived there, but that’s only because they were really smart, had really good parents, inherited a bunch of money, or were born with really good looks. The typical person? Nope, he’s screwed. It’s impossible. Don’t even try. If you try, you’re just being an idiot.

They just sit down on the crappy side of the valley and wallow in their negativity.

The second group is the lazy people. They admit that it’s possible to get to the other side, but man, look at all those obstacles. It’s way too much work. Why would you want to waste your time working that hard? No, they say, better to just sit around, smoke weed, play video games, and take it easy. They’ll never be very happy, but at least life is easy. Getting to the other side is too much damn work.

So they sit down, right next to the defeatists, smoke up, and play Call of Duty on their PlayStations.

The third group is the delusional people. Unlike the defeatists and lazy people, delusional people are quite positive in their outlook. They look at the valley before them and assume the obstacles don’t exist. Sure, there are some pits and boulders in the way, but that doesn’t apply to me, they say. That only applies to jaded jerks. If you’re a good person and do the right things, the obstacles will simply vanish before your eyes.

The delusional people strap on their backpacks and venture into the valley. Since they don’t take the obstacles seriously, they are constantly getting wounded and killed. They fall into the pits and crevasses. They smash themselves against the boulders. They get whipped and torn by the thickets. Many of them spend their entire lives walking up against the rocks and smacking themselves in the head.

When you warn them to mind the obstacles, they verbally attack you and scream that you don’t know what you’re talking about, and that you’re just being a jaded jerk. Then they walk into a pit and die.

The lazy people point at the delusional people as perfect examples of what they’re talking about. “See? There you go! I told you it was too much work.”

The fourth category is the ragers. These are people who admit that there are plenty of obstacles in the way, yet it’s perfectly doable to get to the other side of the valley without that much work. However, they’re furious that the other end of the valley isn’t what it used to be. They want it to be like it was 50 years ago, perfect and wonderful (at least in their eyes), and feel personally affronted that it isn’t that way anymore.

The ragers spend their time screaming at other people, and even screaming at the pits and boulders, about how horrible everything is and how it’s bullshit that the other end of the valley isn’t what it used to be. They even stand alongside their buddies, the lazy people, and often agree with their points. Some ragers create movements to rewind the entire valley into what it was many years ago (though these movements never actually accomplish anything meaningful or long-lasting).

The fifth group is the fearful people. They really want to get to the other side of the valley, and clearly know they’d be happier over there. However, they’re utterly terrified of the obstacles. They see all the catastrophes the delusional people keep having and this fills them with further dread.

So they spend their lives fantasizing about how great it would be if they lived on the other side of the valley, knowing sadly that they’re too frightened to ever go there.

The final group, and by far the smallest, is the successful people. They want to get to the other side of the valley, but they do several things differently than the people in the other groups.

First and most importantly, they don’t delude themselves. They clearly know that there are obstacles and they will need to be taken into account and dealt with. They also know that the ragers have a point, in that the other end of the valley is not what they would ideally like it to be. However, they know that because of the 90% Rule, while they can’t get 100% of what they want, they can get 80% or even 90% of what they want on the other side of the valley (as opposed to the 10% or 20% they’re getting now on this side).

The make a detailed plan of action to deal with all the obstacles and to set up their new life once they reach the other side of the valley, without any delusions or false Disney fantasies. Then they venture out into the valley, avoiding and/or dealing with the obstacles as they encounter them.

Because they acknowledge the obstacles, they get a few little scrapes now and again, but they don’t get seriously wounded or killed like the delusional people do. It takes some time and work, but it’s not a big deal.

Soon, they reach the other end of the valley. It’s not perfect, but its way better than where they were. They then design their 90% awesome life, and are happy for the rest of their days. This is unlike the defeatists, lazy people, ragers, and fearful people who are still very unhappy on the other side of the valley. Sometimes, if they listen closely, they can still hear the ragers screaming from all the way over there. It makes them chuckle, and they shrug, and get back to their happy lives. Here on the other side of the valley, living their 90% awesome life, they’re happy, so none of that matters anymore.

They just smile at how glad they are. Life is good.

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7 Comments
  • Pyro Nagus
    Posted at 09:53 am, 29th March 2017

    It’s really obvious but sometimes you need a reminder like this. Thank you for taking the time to write something that may not get a lot of traffic. I really needed this.

  • joelsuf
    Posted at 12:35 pm, 29th March 2017

    “Some ragers create movements to rewind the entire valley into what it was many years ago (though these movements never actually accomplish anything meaningful or long-lasting).”

    oh hai Manosphere! lol

    I’ll admit right now, I’m part of the fearful club. I’m not as much afraid of the work I have to do, I’m just afraid of success really. I’m afraid that I’ll walk away from what makes me happy (or content I guess) now and since the things that have made me content for several years are things I now need to call into question, it scares me. But I know its gonna help me in the future so bit by bit I’m doing better things for myself and slowly walking away from things that used to make me really content. Admittedly, being a troll was one of those things. I’m not proud of this.

  • Tale
    Posted at 05:59 am, 30th March 2017

    Also the procrastinators group, who will take their first steps once they’ve finished their perfectly to-scale map of the terrain and calculated the optimal route through the valley. Unfortunately it’s impossible to create an accurate map more than a few steps ahead of their current position, and thus they are doomed to stand still planning for eternity.

  • CrabRangoon
    Posted at 01:27 pm, 30th March 2017

    @joelsuf

    You’re right about some parts of the manosphere. The attitude of “if we can just roll back to the 50’s everything will be great again!!!” rubs me the wrong way and would end up causing them more anger in the long run. I would hate reverting to the much more conservative times of old and so would most of these guys when they realize it means girls don’t put out until legal marriage and it’s on you 100% to provide and support the family. The cost of living these days compared to then also makes this a dumb idea.

  • Caleb Jones
    Posted at 07:36 pm, 30th March 2017

    Also the procrastinators group, who will take their first steps once they’ve finished their perfectly to-scale map of the terrain and calculated the optimal route through the valley. Unfortunately it’s impossible to create an accurate map more than a few steps ahead of their current position, and thus they are doomed to stand still planning for eternity.

    Those are a variant of lazy people. If you spend years and years and years analyzing and not taking action, you’re not a procrastinator; you’re just lazy. Procrastination implies that eventually you get around to it.

  • joelsuf
    Posted at 06:46 pm, 1st April 2017

    “You’re right about some parts of the manosphere. The attitude of “if we can just roll back to the 50’s everything will be great again!!!” rubs me the wrong way and would end up causing them more anger in the long run.”

    The manosphere are EXACTLY like the SJWs they dislike so much: They wish for a utopian fantasy that, while appealing, would not benefit them. SJWs want the exact same thing, just involving different people. They want to employ the same tactics that made them “oppressed,” and want to be the oppressors while they just enjoy free things forever. Then when those nice things they are getting for free run out, they’ll complain about something else but be more miserable than before because all of their wishes were granted (white man guilt, affirmative consent, policies that clearly favor LGBTs, nonwhites and chicks).

    Both groups will remain unhappy and unsuccessful because groupthink is their default thinking, meaning they have to consider themselves and their group.

  • Buzz
    Posted at 07:53 pm, 28th December 2017

    The tech guy.

    Uses satellite pictures from the internet to view the other side of the valley.

    Uses chat programs to chat with females on the other side of the valley.

    Uses Skype to “play” with them on line.

    Tells them how nice it is on his side of the valley.

    Offers to reimburse females he likes for their gas or airplane ticket to come to him 🙂

    How was your trip baby?

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