Strangely enough, I woke up this morning with a sudden epiphany suspecting that life on so many levels, assimilates drinking. And why was I pondering about alcohol at 7am in the morning? Well, you got me.
After watching The Descendants yesterday (first of all, I have to say the name of the film is slightly deceiving), I left the cinema with a mixed bag of subtle, and understated emotions. Life is not perfect, and the movie exactly portrays that. The feelings of bitterness, sadness, and hopefulness combined with an unusual sense of relief and acceptance made me beginning to see why this movie scored many awards and nominations. It is not because the story is extraordinary, but only because it is so ordinary, that it can easily be the life of mine, the life of yours, or the life of anyone else's. The difference will only be reflected in how we perceive the things which happen to us, and our attitudes toward them.
This leads me back to thinking that life is not a tea party, it is not always wonderful, not always fun. However perhaps, we can compare it to drinking at a bar. :P
Scenario 1
You have had a good day, caught up with your friends, having a few drinks, sharing some good conversations and enjoying a good time. And what's more, your favourite drinks are on their happy hour specials. Good drinks, good atmosphere, and good company. And most importantly, you just know everything is falling into place. Don't we all have times when we feel we are at the right place at the right time with the right people? You are doing everything right, whether consciously, or without any efforts. These are the times when you embrace life, and life embraces you back.
Scenario 2
Now let's suppose this. You have had a bad day, stumbled into a bar that serves terrible and terribly overpriced drinks, and got stuck talking to people you feel extremely uncomfortable with. And what's made it worse, you also felt you got peer pressured into drinking more than you could chew (should I perhaps say, digest in this case?) and woke up the next day with a big hangover. And what do you decide to do? Try and erase any recollections of what had happened and just get on with it? Swear never to repeat the same stupid mistakes but somehow you attract the exact circumstances again? Or do you analyse what you could have done to prevent a potential disastrous consequence next time by 1. sticking to the same bar you have always gone to 2. bringing your friends and staying within your comfort zone 3. saying no when you need to?
Can you perhaps see what this is eluding to? In our scenario 2, we can't change the past of what had happened, but we can always alter our reactions and attitudes towards the experiences and create new experiences. I am not judging which one of the responses is preferred, they equally contribute to our defensive mechanisms and unique to the individual. And maybe any one of them is appropriate at different times for dealing with different issues.
But can you see that scenario 2 can easily overlaps and be translated into scenario 1, or scenario 3?
Scenario 3
You have had a bad day, stumbled into a bar, instead of ordering the same drink you always get, you decided to be adventurous and picked something the bartender recommended, it turned out to be much better than your expectation. You were also approached by a certain group of people whom you would not normally socialise with, ok, you thought to yourself, what's the worst that can happen, let's see what we have in common. And you found out that you are all die-hard fans of Apple and happily exchanged gadgety tips for hours. Surprisingly overall, you ended up having a good time.
Things are intertwined in ways that are unimaginable, beyond our normal comprehension. This is what I find so fascinating, and I will always be on a quest for answers, or perhaps, to recognise that there exist no answers, or at least, no absolute answers.
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