Blog Dis
Getting along...
2024-07-30
She says with a rueful eye and a dose of hard-earned wisdom, "It ain't easy getting along with everyone, much less with yourself." You got that right, as I pat myself on the back, for making an obvious statement.
This post will conclude my 'getting' series of 'getting on', 'getting off', 'getting enough' and finally 'getting along.' Perhaps the most difficult of the lot, to get along with your family and friends, with co-workers, strangers and Government officials, and let us not forget the inner power struggle of your personality and its befuddling quirks and miss-fires. We believe that within each of us there exists a place that has fine-tuned our behaviour to a level of finesse that getting along with others and ourselves should flow as easy as sticky syrup would drop out a glass bottle. Not so. Getting along is the actual act of modifying your behaviour and individuality, in order that you're able to fit in with pretty much anyone, because you're modulating yourself when in the company of the in-crowd or to look more like you can pull off their clickish behaviour.
Admittedly, I'm the first to admit that I don't get along with everyone. I've followed my doggedly stubbornly independent ideas since the day I was born. It began simply enough in believing that I didn't need to attend Kindergarten school. I was a wee-tot of six years who made up wonderful lies to my teacher about how my mother had forced me to eat too many bowls of soup, and so logically the teacher would send me home with an upset tummy. I didn't go home, of course. I stopped at the local playground and promptly threw myself into a mud pool and dirtied my pretty little skirt. Why? At the time I chose not to get along , to refuse to accept the expectations being placed on me. I never considered the impact of choosing not to get along. I just knew that I didn't want to get along. When you're a kid, you act on impulse and maybe there's a slim chance to reflect later.
Getting along has it advantages inasmuch that you are thought of as a team player, one who can be counted on to come through in a pinch. Getting along in the workplace is especially vital because in said arena, the politics are as bloody as Roman battles and if you aren't part of the aristocracy of upper-management, then you're part of the Plebiscite society and therefore not getting along means you'll fall from the grace of one exalted place to find yourself in the pit of another. Yet, and despite either side, you must cope with getting along. It can't be avoided. It can be thwarted, however, as we see by the growing houseless population fighting to survive on the streets; the tired, worn-down disenfranchised individuals with loads of free time on their hands, who at some point in time in life had fallen on hard times, but ironically, however, there's a pecking order even among the houseless.
Few know how to survive and thrive living on the fringe of society. I've compartmentalized most priorities in my life and I place getting along on the top of my list. I find I feel better when I make an effort to get along with family and to cope with their eccentricities. It generally means I must learn to continually forgive their failings and they mine. Getting along with my banking officer, however, is an entirely different story because so long as I have money to invest, he and or she must make the effort to get along with me. You see, the see-saw of life tips up and down and up and down and every so often the bottom of your see-saw hits the ground hard and kicks you in the caboose, to remind you that getting along is a methodical and normal process of life, but it's bumpy at best.
Yes! We all want and need to get along with everyone and everything in our lives. But I shan't leave you now with this simplified version of getting along. I can only attest to the belief I've come to know since being alive on this planet and that is never, never, never, shall you have all your ducks lined up in a row, even if your goal is to get along across the board. And by this I mean, you can have the most astounding career and home and relationship life but perhaps you may have health issues. Conversely, you can enjoy tip-top health, an amazing home and relationship but have problems at work. Lastly, you may be able to balance with pure expertise a phenomenal work life, amazing health and yet your relationship is on the skids.
Try as you might, you simply can't make it work for every element of your life, to get along with every other element. I've tried. Believe me. It simply won't jive. But this reality of fact doesn't detract from my feeling that trying to get along is worth the expense of effort regardless.
In the end, I remind myself there is and will always be one relationship I have with the external world, with which I've always gotten along famously and this is 70% pure darkest of dark chocolate... my baby, my savior, my lust, my wonder drug...
This post will conclude my 'getting' series of 'getting on', 'getting off', 'getting enough' and finally 'getting along.' Perhaps the most difficult of the lot, to get along with your family and friends, with co-workers, strangers and Government officials, and let us not forget the inner power struggle of your personality and its befuddling quirks and miss-fires. We believe that within each of us there exists a place that has fine-tuned our behaviour to a level of finesse that getting along with others and ourselves should flow as easy as sticky syrup would drop out a glass bottle. Not so. Getting along is the actual act of modifying your behaviour and individuality, in order that you're able to fit in with pretty much anyone, because you're modulating yourself when in the company of the in-crowd or to look more like you can pull off their clickish behaviour.
Admittedly, I'm the first to admit that I don't get along with everyone. I've followed my doggedly stubbornly independent ideas since the day I was born. It began simply enough in believing that I didn't need to attend Kindergarten school. I was a wee-tot of six years who made up wonderful lies to my teacher about how my mother had forced me to eat too many bowls of soup, and so logically the teacher would send me home with an upset tummy. I didn't go home, of course. I stopped at the local playground and promptly threw myself into a mud pool and dirtied my pretty little skirt. Why? At the time I chose not to get along , to refuse to accept the expectations being placed on me. I never considered the impact of choosing not to get along. I just knew that I didn't want to get along. When you're a kid, you act on impulse and maybe there's a slim chance to reflect later.
Getting along has it advantages inasmuch that you are thought of as a team player, one who can be counted on to come through in a pinch. Getting along in the workplace is especially vital because in said arena, the politics are as bloody as Roman battles and if you aren't part of the aristocracy of upper-management, then you're part of the Plebiscite society and therefore not getting along means you'll fall from the grace of one exalted place to find yourself in the pit of another. Yet, and despite either side, you must cope with getting along. It can't be avoided. It can be thwarted, however, as we see by the growing houseless population fighting to survive on the streets; the tired, worn-down disenfranchised individuals with loads of free time on their hands, who at some point in time in life had fallen on hard times, but ironically, however, there's a pecking order even among the houseless.
Few know how to survive and thrive living on the fringe of society. I've compartmentalized most priorities in my life and I place getting along on the top of my list. I find I feel better when I make an effort to get along with family and to cope with their eccentricities. It generally means I must learn to continually forgive their failings and they mine. Getting along with my banking officer, however, is an entirely different story because so long as I have money to invest, he and or she must make the effort to get along with me. You see, the see-saw of life tips up and down and up and down and every so often the bottom of your see-saw hits the ground hard and kicks you in the caboose, to remind you that getting along is a methodical and normal process of life, but it's bumpy at best.
Yes! We all want and need to get along with everyone and everything in our lives. But I shan't leave you now with this simplified version of getting along. I can only attest to the belief I've come to know since being alive on this planet and that is never, never, never, shall you have all your ducks lined up in a row, even if your goal is to get along across the board. And by this I mean, you can have the most astounding career and home and relationship life but perhaps you may have health issues. Conversely, you can enjoy tip-top health, an amazing home and relationship but have problems at work. Lastly, you may be able to balance with pure expertise a phenomenal work life, amazing health and yet your relationship is on the skids.
Try as you might, you simply can't make it work for every element of your life, to get along with every other element. I've tried. Believe me. It simply won't jive. But this reality of fact doesn't detract from my feeling that trying to get along is worth the expense of effort regardless.
In the end, I remind myself there is and will always be one relationship I have with the external world, with which I've always gotten along famously and this is 70% pure darkest of dark chocolate... my baby, my savior, my lust, my wonder drug...
