Day 142

'Go for the Juggler', Pen and Watercolour on Paper

The subject of today's drawing may seem a little abstract so thought I'd identify it before launching into the usual diatribe, it's of a juggling pin. From the subject of the drawing and the title you would probably have been quick to assume that it was going to be a further rant on how difficult it is to juggle the many facets of everyday life and maintain an element of control. You may have even considered that I would once again discuss at great length how easily we allow opportunities to slip through our grasp when instead we need to be less passive and make a beeline straight for the jugular, see what I did there juggler.. jugular... no... ah well never mind... If I'm completely honest they were the first two thoughts that went through my mind but they have been recurring themes in some shape or form so I figured I best look at things a little differently. As a result today is all about the show, the element of pageantry that we bring to communal  situations and how we spend the majority of our time in the presence of other people trying to highlight just how great we really are. We tend to do so by bringing all those mildly amusing yet inconsequential talents to the forefront, the party tricks whose aim it is to entertain, enthral and entice people to want to stay in our company a little longer. The more unique the talent the better too, as there are always those instances where we brazenly flaunt a specific talent or trick that we have picked up on our time on this earth only to have someone come along a few seconds later and nonchalantly overshadow our performance. Although not before uttering the phrase, 'ah... I haven't done this in ages and I'm not really that good', which only further adds insult to injury as they make your tour de force seem more like a tour de farce. It is a behaviour that is best surmised by the term peacocking, as we bring as much attention on ourselves as possible in the hope of winning people over... it's a primal instinct that's sole aim is to assert our dominance and provide the illusion that we are much more interesting than we sometimes are. This then inadvertently creates a necessity by which we need to continually discover new hidden talents in order to continue to put on a good show and keep a head of the curve, alternatively we can just sit lower in the pecking order allow everyone else to vie for the attentions of the group and once they've tired out every obscure hobby the have mastered, we can then swoop in with a witty remark and steal the limelight... it's much less effort.