…will blow your mind!
…will totally shock you!
…will make you laugh till you pee!
…will make you cry till you pee!
…will make you look at waffles differently forever!
Or not.
Not everything is awesome. Not every movie is the greatest you’ve ever seen. Not everything sucks either. Not every bad meal is the worst meal you’ve ever had. Some things just are. Some things just happen. They don’t necessarily rock your world, for better or worse.
But that’s what so many of us strive for. The next vacation has to be the best ever, or it will be the worst ever. The next burger needs to be the best I’ve ever had, or I’m never going back to that place. We’ve both raised and lowered the bar on “amazing.” Someone straps a camera to her head, and I can accompany her on a dive with Great White Sharks. Someone else straps one to his head, and I can accompany him to the fabric store. Is that the same thing? I don’t think so. Some things just aren’t amazing.
A common opening in a Christian worship service is, “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (It’s from the Bible. Psalm 118:24) I love that passage, and I think there is plenty to rejoice and be glad for.
But here’s the thing. You can’t always orchestrate amazing. Sometimes you can. If you work hard at school, work, sports, music, etc, you can create something amazing.
But when it comes to life, sometimes, you need to let be what will be. When you try to orchestrate amazing, you can miss out on the amazing things that are already happening.
Have you ever been at a restaurant with someone who is so focused on the service, food, ambiance, that they are not engaged in the conversation at all? Have you ever been to a movie with someone who picks apart what could or could not happen, that you just want to scream, “It’s a dinosaur amusement park! We left reality at the door!”
Be thankful for what you have. Rejoice in the good things in your life, but let them be what they are. They may not be perfect. Every day may not be amazing or the best day ever. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t be pretty damn good.
Patrick Day 
Patrick, you posted a follow-up on Facebook with a link to the viral mentos/diet coke video. I pondered it for a while and realized that while that video, in and of itself, wasn’t amazing, what it represented was. It poignantly displayed how willing we have become to hand over 1 min increments of our time. Sure it’s just a minute, but they add up. Then we realize that we’ve spent a lifetime disconnected from reality, hooked up to an endless supply of meaningless, and banal stimuli. This epiphany has encouraged me to disconnect from Facebook for a while. Thank you for the thought provoking post. Godspeed.
Andrew, I agree. I feel for my kids who are immersed in a world where we feel the need to document the most mundane parts of our lives. And for the rest of us, who convince ourselves that the mundane is that entertaining.
You’re right. The connection is lost.
Enjoy the break. I would love to connect in the real world some time.