RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM vs COMPLIANCE AND LIFE FORCE

Rugged individualism: the life force that separates quitters from finishers.

Ask one of them why they do hard things and expect a question in return:

“Why not?”

It’s a confidence builder, and role to model.

Then there’s personal compliance, which shouldn’t be a problem, but . . .

When your life force ebbs, and like the ocean tide it ebbs and flows, and you are compelled to acknowledge problems, you’re not going to feel so rugged.

Sometimes you get it back, the rugged individualism you remember, but it’s different.

A reader left a comment, which you should do too, after I prompted him.

He posted this on Facebook:

You have weathered much Dave-more than some, less than others and keep a wry sense of humor and perspective-good read-thanks There you go!

I said it was a good comment for the blog, and here we are.

Rugged Individualism Takes Effort

Have I weathered much? My response, written with rugged individualism :

Thanks for coming in here. What have I weathered? More than I asked for, that’s for sure. I met an eighty year old man, very chipper, and asked him about his health. He said, “I just keep going without a problem. I had a tooth pulled once.” And that was it.

What I do is the same, keep going. I’ve swept past my 3000th post on BoomerPdx, which means I’ve got a backlog to re-write. But I never get stuck, or maybe I just refuse to acknowledge being stuck.

I’m happy to know you get the wry humor part of my work. Not always so lucky. For example, I had cancer treatment and thought of the weight loss in terms of making weight in wrestling. I got under 200 lbs and called it a celebration. No one else did. But it worked, even with an intervention to remind me I was being an idiot.

My work here isn’t for everyone, but it is for one: the one feeling like no one thinks of them, the one feeling left out and ignored. I’m getting readers from Japan. I hope their experience here expands their world if they’re reading in their tiny apartments and looking for a better way.

It’s for the love lorn feeling like life has passed them by, but not for all the lonely people. Just one. 

Comments here mean more to me than I can say as I turn the corner and head for 4000 posts. 

Thanks for adding on

There I am, in all of my longwinded, comment answering, glory. And I wonder why no one comments?

Not much.

But, if you want validation as a literate reader, a bright reader, leave a literate and bright comment.

Personal Compliance Required For Rugged Individuals

Living in a world you can tolerate means being compliant to the society you live in, and it’s not a bad thing.

Seeing the homeless living in sidewalk tents and freeway borders shows what happens when the basics of food, shelter, and clothing, break down.

They’ve adapted to situations in a society unable or unwilling to accommodate them.

Screw compliance? Not so fast.

Unless they are dead in a tent, medical services swing into action when someone in need is identified.

Comatose? Profuse bleeding? Other identifiers for emergency care, like shortness of breath, choking, unable to stand and move?

Call the calvary and urge compliance.

But, as Karen showed at her local Salem Trader Joe’s during the pandemic, compliance isn’t guaranteed because not everyone sees the society they live in the same way.

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Rugged individualism isn’t a contest.

I’m rugged, you’re rugged, we all rugged.

We’re all rugged until we’re tested and pass the test. But there’s a secret:

PEERSONAL COMPLIANCE

One example:

While I was getting a load of cancer cooked out with radiation and chemo I asked a nurse the key to a successful outcome.

I didn’t ask if I would survive, if I would live to enjoy a robust third act. I wanted to know how others handled the freakish ordeal of getting pumped full of whatever the hell was in the huge black IV bag.

How did people not take a nose dive after getting strapped to a table under a radiation machine thirty-five times?

Her magical words?

“Comply.”

With that advice, I continued on by asking the main doctors assigned to my case:

“How do you know this process is effective?”

“Science, we follow the science.”

I like reminding myself about science. How about you?

Blogging For Rugged Individualism

Any creative effort shines with individualism, rugged or not.

The same applies here. Everyday.

Whether it’s stumping to get out the Millennial Vote, giving Seattle it’s due as the capitol of the Pacific Northwest, or chronicling a beautiful day on Portland’s 82nd Ave, it all requires the skill-set found in rugged individualism.

But don’t take it from me.

From the spam folder:

Thank you so much for sharing all of this great information with us along with the how-tos!!!! It is greatly appreciated!!! “You always do a wonderful job with your posts and blogs. Your posts are always so fun to read and so useful!

I can’t believe focusing long enough to research; much less write this kind of article. You’ve outdone yourself with this material without a doubt. It is one of the greatest contents.

In conclusion, be as bad-ass as you can for as long as you can, but leave a little room for personal compliance.

Your life force will thank you.

If you’re halfways decent, others will thank you, too.

Leave a comment and what the hell, I’ll thank you.