Unpopular Opinion: The Grass On The Other Side Is Greener But Not For The Reasons You Think
There are two kinds of people in this world.
Only two.
They’re people who believe the grass is greener on the other side of the fence and then there are people who believe it’s green wherever taken care of.
I’ve driven hundreds of miles through suburban neighborhoods envying people who aren’t driven mad by whether or not they’re living their best life. Questioning commitments they’ve made isn’t typical behavior. Doubt doesn’t buzz around their mind desperately finding a place to land. They don’t fight the curiosity to peer over their neighbor’s fence or into other people’s windows.
Mailbox after mailbox.
Within these homes, live people who have dutifully pursued the life they’ve created. Instead of longing for something that isn’t theirs, something somewhere else with someone else, they partake in a sacred practice some call gratitude. They rise with the sun and offer thanks to the superior power in this universe for empowering them with the ability to sustain and support what they’ve been blessed with. This is a life they were offered, a life they took ownership over, a life they take great pride in, and most importantly, a life they find a deep, inexplicable peace in.
Driveway after driveway.
Have you never wondered what your life would be like if you lived elsewhere?
Have you never watched the sun set beneath the same horizon you do every evening and wonder if your lungs would feel any fuller if you laughed in a city full of new opportunities and the sound of foreign laughter not so different from your own?
Have you never wondered what your life would be like if you loved elsewhere?
Have you never wondered what it would be like to press your lips against the warmth of someone else’s? Have you never felt lust for another burn through your veins hot, indignant, and with a demand to be satiated?
Have you never yearned for an air you’ve yet to breathe?
Have you never tossed and turned at night wondering what it would feel like to sink your toes deep into a unfamiliar ground with the same sun you were born under warming your skin?
Have you never yearned for a life you’ve let to live?
Does it not haunt you?
We’ve met before. You and I.
I’m the stranger you’ve locked eyes with out somewhere you’ve been more times than you can count. I’m in the vehicle next to you with license plates from a state farther than you’ve ever been. I’m at the other end of the grocery aisle. I’m filling up my gas tank across from you at the gas station.
I’m everywhere and I’m nowhere.
Remember me?
I’m looking for something you’ve already found.
Stay away from me.
I believe people with healthy imaginations are a kind of unfortunate individual.
Imaginations lead to fantasies, you see.
Fantasies, when left untreated, lead to a severe and often fatal disconnect with reality.
Defiled by dreams, we believe in something that may or may not be there. Fueled by an illusion, we chase mirage after mirage in hopes of finding a life made for us by design.
We are a people that believe in fate.
And fate is a dangerous thing to believe in. It leaves our lives up to chance. Every moment and every move becomes a gamble. There is no rhyme or reason. Our only option is to place a bet and hope with all our heart we’re holding the winning hand.
In believing in fate, would you not agree that we are also surrendering the control over our destiny?
Would you not agree that in believing if something is meant to be or not that we are also relinquishing the responsibility over our lives?
Where in that does freedom lie?
That’s the problem with people like me.
We stand in prisons of our own doing with the key in our hand.
However, you’re different than I am.
With the dirt beneath your feet, you create your own paradise. You take the ground you walk on and build a fortress that can withstand the seasons that come and go with life.
You have my envy for two reasons.
First off, you are the reason I believe the grass is greener on the other side of the fence because you are the keeper of these lands. If it weren’t for your diligent hands, there would be no evidence to confirm my suspicions.
You are the spark that ignited the fire within me to find my own Eden.
You have everything I want.
Last but not least, you are everything I want to be.
Life, to you, is instinctual. It’s simple. The instructions to your days lie deep within you. Strength, loyalty, perseverance, and commitment are all words that describe you. Structure, stability, and security are all languages you speak fluently.
All my life I’ve believed you’re lucky. That somehow, someway, you receive divine favortism. I still do.
However, some days I wonder if there’s a larger force at play: human courage.
You have the courage to stay, work harder, and have faith your grass will one day be greener than ever. You weather the storms, standing in the rain, and fiercely guard the life you’ve built. You do not run. You do not hide.
You have faith.
Sometimes, that faith is as blind and as wild as my imaginations but between you and I, my deepest suspicion is that whatever we believe, truly, deep in our souls, is our truth.
Our belief manifests our reality.
Think carefully.
