"So it goes..."
- So It Goes, Taylor Swift
Coming up with phrases/expressions I use was a lot harder than I expected. I guess I just say these things to myself so often that I don’t even notice it anymore. Anyway, here’s a brief glimpse into what goes through my head much of the time…
•"Don’t get cocky, Pocky jockey."
When I was in 3rd or 4th grade, I read the book Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. It was one of the funniest, wackiest things I’d ever read. Each story focused on a character from the class on the school’s 30th floor (read the book, it makes more sense). One of the characters, Terrence, was highly fond of rhyming insults. For a kid his age, he was pretty dang good at it. Or at least my child mind thought so.
I’m not mean or confrontational enough to use rhyming insults, but I do like rhyming mottos. Hence the wonderfully apt use of "cocky", "pocky", and "jockey". I’m very proud of myself for coming up with this, even though it’s pretty nonsensical if you don’t know the context.
Sometimes, life isn’t so great. That’s fine. Sometimes, life seems to be going great. That’s bad. Sometimes, life is going great! That’s the worst.
There have been many times in my life where things are going great and I’m content with where I am. Then an unfortunate event (or a series of unfortunate events) happens and I’m sent back to square one of trying to gain some contentedness. It kinda sucks. Every time I feel happy I’m scared that my happiness will be destroyed before I have the chance to appreciate it fully. Every time I’m gifted with a great opportunity, I start envisioning all the ways it could go wrong. Every time I think too optimistically, the crushing weight of reality sets in and I return to my pessimistic ways.
Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor. Luck runs out. When it comes to life, enjoying the highs means that the lows are soon to come.
•"C’est la vie."
This sentiment is echoed in many other similar phrases, such as "that’s just how the cookie crumbles", "such is life", or "so it goes" (an expression that became widely popular when Taylor Swift invented it). Other modern examples that follow this trend include "it be like that sometimes" and the God-awful "that’s how mafia works" meme.
Life sucks sometimes. There’s no avoiding that. The best you can do when life fricks you up is acknowledge it, accept it, and move on. Easier said than done, huh?
Of course, this shouldn’t be used as a way to write off all the terrible things that happen in life. If something super awful happens to me and someone says “well, c’est la vie!”, they’re finna get slapped in the head.
•"There’s a lesson to be learned in any situation."
So, what’s the grand purpose of life? Why shouldn’t we Pocky jockeys be cocky? Why do it be like that sometimes? Beats me.
But I believe the worst situations in life, even the absolute fusterclucks that seem like they’ll never end, still hold some value. I hesitate to say that these situations will always turn out okay or lead to other opportunities (see catchphrasing pt. 2), but I think that some small amount of good can still come from them. It's a strangely optimistic outlook given the depressing nature of the previous two phrases, but it's something I've found holds true for many scenarios.
Again, this is not a phrase I'd want to hear after a poor choice or an unfavorable occurrence. However, over the years I've noticed that bad situations are strangely formative. In the moment, all I can think about how much my life sucks, but after it's done I have a sense of pseudo-appreciation for the pain I had to go through. Getting through it makes me stronger.
(Good Lord. I guess I need to issue my apology to Kelly Clarkson now.)
So yeah. Sometimes the lesson is learned right after the situation. Sometimes it takes a couple of days to sink in. Sometimes it takes years to figure it out.
Perhaps someday, the sum of human experience will show us what life itself is all about. Will we ever get there? I have no idea.
Until then, I'll keep living and keep learning.
