Everything

Everything is a very big word. It means all of it, without exception. Each and every one of those things, minus none. Everything.

It’s not uncommon for me, and others I’m sure, to use this word liberally. I’m a story-teller by nature and I like to pepper my language with strong and vivid language. I like to embellish and exaggerate, to paint a picture for my conversational partners and the word ‘everything’ is indeed a strong word. Every single thing.

But there is an unfortunately common usage of the word that , for the very first time, seems at once both alien and categorically untrue.

“Everything is going good.”
“Everything is going bad.”

There is, of course, the negative form of this (simply replace ‘everything’ with ‘nothing’) but let’s stick with this for now.

I used to use this sort of language a lot. Very often, even. It’s a very easy picture to paint; a very clear and easily comprehended black and white. Everything or nothing, all at once, without reservation. My entire life’s energy is somehow, all at once, entirely positive or negative. It’s all good or it’s all bad, and never anything in between.

Time and possibly even some maturation leads me to wonder if maybe my penchant for using such strong and extremist language is helping to contribute to a very alarming personality trait that worries me for my future. I love to devote myself to things and commit great amounts of energy to my projects and passions, but I often get such an extreme case of tunnel vision that I can only really focus on a single track, and the second my eyesight wanders, it becomes abandoned as I focus on a new road.

It’s a common behavior in teenagers, but that’s not what I am anymore, or who I want to be. Balance and self-administration are very important and attractive qualities. They do not exclude or stultify passion- rather, they direct and guide that wonderfully positive energy that otherwise is wasted when the path is eventually abandoned for something new. I’ve worked hard in recent years to practice more discipline with this.

Similarly, I should apply the same ‘grayification’ of my tendency to overuse everything. It’s over-reaching and creates damaging simplifications of complex issues. Sure I sprained my ankle a few days ago, but I also managed to get a ton of cleaning done at home. Today, I may have been extremely productive before I went in for work, but then I was in a bad mood at work all day from a few bad callers.

I guess my point is that rather than wrapping myself up in a mood that can create depressions (‘everything is so bad right now…’) or prepare me for to be crushed after crashing from an unrealistic high, I should seek a form of restraint in my thoughts. When things are good, acknowledge it- but use realistic language. “Things are going great for me” is reality; “everything is going great for me” is fantasy, at best.

By managing a balance of thoughts, I believe I can increase my overall satisfaction and productivity in life. It may take a while, but it can all begin with a simple change in the way that I communicate, both externally and internally.