The Opportunity Cost Of Fluff: Realness, Rawness, And Badass Authenticity...

Let's be real. We've all been living lies.

The particulars may vary for each of us. Yet every single one of us has gone about our lives fabricating a socially-acceptable persona, crafting what comes out of our mouths and fingertips so as to not ruffle feathers too much and keep hidden parts of ourselves we've been pretty sure will not be met with warm smiles and supportive standing ovations.

We've forged flimsy comfort zones of self-identities in which we've pardoned ourselves from the scary task of 100% authentic self-confrontation through the process of being totally real with others, opting on the side of playing along to everyone else's storylines so as to not offend each others' precious little egos with blunt reflections unlike anything found in the cultural rhetoric sustaining paradigms sucking the fucking life out of us.

Some reading this are probably starting to get uncomfortable. Others may be nodding along smugly, thinking I'm referring to the masses of conventional society. But there is reason for us all to get uncomfortable here. Cuz every single one of us - yours truly included - is guilty.

Steemit is just as an open-platform as any to "speak our minds." Yet, how real we gotten yet? How much fluff have we wasted our and others' time on, regurgitating opinions and composing stories to support our beliefs of who we are and how the world is? And more importantly, what has the opportunity cost been?

What haven't we said? What have we held back out of fear?

In the name of the "spiritual" game or "being a good citizen," how many of us have silenced parts of ourselves that if were being totally honest, would confess to really not giving a fuck about too many of the other people on this planet? That we go about our days walking down the street smiling at people, while something darker on the inside views them as little more than predictable, emotion-driven machines produced en-mass that are a cancer to this planet with their self-indulgent, superficial, materialistic, consumer lifestyles - and we remain numb to truly connecting with their humanness?

Or what about the flipside...

How many of us have opened up senses and abilities - perhaps that we haven't even fully acknowledged - through which we do feel so deeply and intimately that which those around us are going through? How many amongst us have side-stepped our own egos at times to connect so directly into others without even trying, that we are unable to separate others' anxieties, fears, aggression, and confusion from our own - to the point where it's almost fucking traumatizing to navigate our place in this maze of mankind's evolution through the most testing times in history?

What has held us back from admitting where in our lives we really don't have our shit together and have no fucking clue where to even begin scrambling to gain some tiny sense of control over the messes our ignorance and incompetence have put us in?

Or how many times have we suppressed Truths and insight lie within us, dumbing ourselves down because we know there'll be an energetic backlash from those whose boundaries we might push - retreating into a safety zone, denying our own expression of that which might constructively shatter stupidity-based illusions others hold dear, in order to preserve our own delusionsary sense of peace of mind?

What about the times we've played small, failing to deliver what could be valuable perspectives within collaborative dialogues - knowing we're at a level below who we'd like to talk to, sensing that pretty much anything we might say is bound to come across as stupid and create a backlash from the others for having wasted their time with our petty ideas they're light years ahead of?

How many times do we shrink ourselves down, when encountering others who say or do stupid shit, feeling at the core of our beings, "I am better, smarter, stronger, and more capable than you'll ever be...?"

And conversely, how often do we feel lesser, weaker, stupider than - putting ourselves in the position of the inferior one, encountering others whose gifts set the stage for a comparison by which we fail to measure up...?

Nerve struck yet?

We've all mastered the art of manipulative communication - meeting eachother half-way at safety points, where unspoken agreements provide us a middle ground at which we can fake our way through some interaction, playing along with social norms, so as to not stir the pot.

And we've all proven our ineptitude in exemplifying a leadership that catapults us out of our comfort zones into the vulnerability of getting real about the aspects of our lives that would be absolutely unbearable were we not able to continually distract and numb ourselves from them.

Though then again, who wants to engage the shadows?

Sure, some will designate an hour a week to spill our sour beans to some therapist before reentering the rat race - isolating our moment of honesty within the confines of a societally-sanctioned office, paying enormous sums to ensure those darkest secrets don't escape the walls.

But what's the cost when we keep quiet about these types of things?

Sure, the repression might back up to cause increasingly destructive turmoil within ourselves and ripple out into the relationships with those around us.

But who else might we be denying an opportunity for growth by failing to speak our truths due to fear?

What can't move forward in our outside world because we've been too chicken-shit to crack open dialogues about the things holding us back the most...?

What RAM upgrades have we been denying ourselves and others by holding back to explore and process the negative charges we've locked in the closets...?

Seems this is turning out to be a continuation of the theme started with yesterday's Access Point: Vulnerability post.

And the point...? I dunno. Maybe that is for each of to determine for ourselves.

Personally, I feel it's a waste of valuable time to tippie-toe around some of the most charged issues that could be written, which could hold massive potential for inspiring and transforming the way we understand & view ourselves, others, and the worlds in ways most conducive to constructive evolutionary collaboration.

But then again, sometimes we need a break from being all serious too, and some light humor and cat videos might bring an equal amount of light into our lives every now and then.

Nonetheless, there is an opportunity cost to every post we invest our time writing and reading here.

Every topic may vary. But the realness that goes into them might just make a difference on the impact our words have on others...

Or some shit.