Act as Though
Maria Hill: "Sir, is that really a priority right now?" Nick Fury: "Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on."
When I was in rehab, there was an ambassador program of the patients to the administration. It was a quasi leadership role, mostly we organized the morning and evening meetings. We met with the administrator at the end of the week, it wasn't a lot, but it was something to be elected by your community. It feels good to be liked by people.
I was in rehab three times. In my first stay, I was elected to the program. In the third say, I missed the election by one vote—twice. Losing by one vote can sting and it did, and it did even though I told myself it didn't matter. There's a part of me that cares about what people think about me. Frustratingly, I think the answer is in the Serenity Prayer, the "listening and reps" of recovery.
God,
Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change.
The Courage to change the things I can
And the Wisdom to know the difference.
I think "acting as though" is approaching things with Serenity and Courage. If you have a problem or something about your life isn't the way you want it to be, try applying courage and if that doesn't work try serenity. I was thinking about "acting as though" during the most recent episode of the How Do You Get Through the Day? podcast. Are We Allowed to be Content? With Katie O'Brien:
I think the trap is you have to—if you can—focus on everything you have control of and just make sure you're doing enough of that because there's so much we don't have control over. So I keep thinking like, okay, what do I have control over? And then I really focus on those things and push those as much as I can because I keep thinking like statistically if I I keep gathering all these things the likelihood of something working out is higher.
I can't make people buy my pilot. I can't make people put me on a team. I can't make people like me. What I can do is focus on the things I can control. I can write and take classes and try to improve my crafts. I can put myself out there and develop relationships. I can keep my side of the street clean. So if things are are feeling kind of topsy-turvy right now, keep trying to act as though the world intends to spin on, because it does and you belong here for whatever time you've got.
