After I wrote several posts in my blog, my son’s girlfriend sent me a text message suggesting that I would enjoy Freakonomics radio — thank you Brighid.  The first segment I listened to featured asking several prominent people about concepts which should die or be retired. The topic fascinated me. I decided to change it to conventional wisdom which should be changed.  As we gain experience in life, we start to form our own belief system and by doing so alter or reject very well-known or common concepts. Here is my “twist” on three common concepts:

• Slow down and ignore your goal temporarily.  When I was a teenager, I thought I needed to work 24 hours  to achieve my goals.  I was so focused and motivated on achieving my plans that I did not stop to smell the proverbial roses.  In college, I did not go out with my friends to many places; I studied all of the time. I don’t remember having a good weekend due to the amount of worries I had about school and my goals. Even when I decided to breathe and have some fun with friends, my mind kept bringing forth my worries. I was a prisoner of my thoughts and my goals which made me drive 120 miles per hour.  I regret these days. I would have loved to slow down and enjoy life more.  I wish I had spent more time with my friends during the weekends and had enjoyed life by meeting more people.
• It is OK not to have pain in order to gain.  Do we really need to go through misery in order to enjoy life?  Can we have a normal life which can go up and down without going through the extremes of human emotions.  When our son was born, he brought to our life so much joy.  He was giggling and laughing with glee within a few months. Should he really pay the price of being a happy child?  Should all of us pay a heavy price because our lives were not to the extreme that we have to suffer a lot in order for us to be happy.  I don’t think so, and I refuse to believe this.  Now, I accept that it is OK not to suffer and go through pain, but I also think that having pain is not a requirement to having gain.

  

• We don’t need to pay our dues all of the time.  If you go to graduate school, this is the first statement you will hear from your advisor or some professor “pay your dues.”  Even when you start a new job, you will hear this from your boss.  The statement triggers some sadness by reminding me of all the pain  and challenges in graduate school.  It is sad to hear this statement in the work place.  Although I believe in working hard, I don’t believe in “paying our  dues” all of the time.

As I changed these common concepts which I heard all of the time, I started to see life’s challenges differently.  We need to believe in common wisdom and think about them and change them.

Thank you for reading my post. Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.