I recently listened to a song by Milow that is called “Against the tide” and had an interesting revelation. To swim against the tide as used in the english language means “to do something that is in opposition to the general movement of things” or “to not follow what everyone else is doing“. But the way I see it now – viewing the tide as a river – there are not two but at least three different ways of doing something or living your life in general.
The first one obviously is to swim with the tide, to follow the majority and do what everyone else does, the way everyone else does it, mostly to not even think about why you do it. That option seemingly needs the least energy, because you get pushed in the general direction anyway. But there is no real choice.
The second one is to swim against the tide. To try to fight the things the majority does. Always struggling, always fighting, without really getting anywhere. The way I see it, this option takes the most energy and reapes the least rewards, because you’re so busy fighting, that you can’t go your own way.
So finally, the third option would be to just find or create your own small rivulet to swim in. You follow your own direction, maybe sometimes with some twists and turns, some hurdles. This could also be very energy-consuming, as long as you’re not used to that way, because you always have to find the path yourself, not being pushed any certain direction by others. But after getting used to it, learning to be more aware of your surroundings, there is no pushing, no forcing, it just all flows naturally. When you get to that point, this way of doing things will definitely need the least amount of energy, while offering the most benefits.
But that’s just my way of looking at life. What do you think?
