Besides,

Speaking of a mid-life crisis, a rather popular option is to up and move, to uproot one’s life and get a change of scenery. This may be permanently or may be just for a short amount of time. That being said I have always been happiest when I’m traveling. The feeling of movement, the new scenery, the new people, the experiences, and the troubleshooting keep me enthralled. A lot can be learned on the road and certainly a lot can happen for better or for worse. Either way, you’re very far away from any previous stomping grounds and when things happen you have to be quick on your feet to keep the momentum going. Each place has a different vibe and requires a unique set of skills to navigate, interpret, and understand just how to live.

With every venture into the unknown presumptions about the future destination are ingrained (why would we ever want to travel to a place anyway without knowing something about it already…). Sometimes those presumptions are wrong and the destinations are not what we had intended; but nevertheless we always take away something for better or worse from our experiences. Depth into one’s self, not distance away will be the ultimate healer. Andre Breton calls imagination as one of the most beloved of all things. “The mere word ‘freedom’ is the only one that still excites me. I deem it capable of indefinitely sustaining the old human fanaticism. It doubtless satisfies my only legitimate aspiration.”

As our journey through this life continues we must constantly reinvent ourselves, our path, our everything. Impermanence and mystery of the step in front of the one we just took keeps us in constant flux. Some make gradual changes throughout, others have a ‘mid-life crisis’ and make dramatic sudden changes at some point in some attempt to live a life they thought they should have been living.

a·vant-garde

ˌavänt ˈgärd,ˌaväN/

noun

noun: avant-garde

1.    
new and unusual or experimental ideas, esp. in the arts, or the people introducing them.



Stepping out of the box and into the avant-garde lifestyle means leaving thought to be previous concreted ideas and habits about one’s daily life and trying something new and different. For some this may translate to material purchases of status, say a new automobile or a different clothing style, and to others this may be active change in thought patterns or beliefs. For me I prefer to constantly reinvent myself, as I live by the biggest existential bummer of all, impermanence. That’s not to say that one day I might have a mid life crisis of my own, but only time will tell. I do what I can with what I have, today.

Impermanence

To live and let be' is a fragment I try to build into my design of human interaction. The very thread that links people can appear innocuous at times but can also yield immense beauty. I believe the idea of impermanence in every facet of our lives is the single idea that drives love towards hate, that drives beauty to madness (or maybe encompasses both at the same time). Every relationship no matter how infinitesimal it may appear on the surface is in constant flux.

In the grand scheme of things we fight for what we believe is 'ours'. We fight for land, for objects, for relationships, for things we think matter at that time yet all things cease to exist at one point or another. Everything comes to a close when the final resting place is had and our eyes shut for the last time. But does this mean that we should falter and give up on what we have and what we are doing in the present? Does it mean that we should squeeze tighter and not let go? These are questions you must answer within yourself. As Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin said, “I may not believe in myself, but I believe in what I’m doing.”

That's the way. All is fleeting, oh but all is well.