Day 146

'On the Sauce'. Pen and Marker on Paper

There is a common occurrence that we experience on most of the excursions that we partake in on a weekly basis, that being bumping into a long lost friend. The immediate outcome of such an interaction is dependant on firstly how long we knew the person and secondly how long it's been since last we met. In those instances we tend to handle each in much the same way, with an intensely euphoric embrace and a sense of disbelief and amazement. Unfortunately this is a feeling that is short lived, especially when the dreaded and unavoidable inquisition starts and we must stumble our way through a myriad of questions that although seemingly generic and innocent, prove only to insight panic as we try and maintain our composure and allure whilst being cross examined. The worst of these questions is the open ended, 'what have you been up to since I last saw you?', in the aftermath of such a statement we spend the immediate moments before the words reach our lips attempting to conjure up something that will make it seem like the time that has passed since our last encounter hasn't been wasted. We aim to prove that we have grown and developed as people, experienced life to its fullest and added a further layer of interesting into the very fabric of our persona. The inconvenient truth is though that our days have actually been filled with mediocrity, a banal existence that revolves around work, television and the occasional evening spent on the sauce trying to forget about the week that has just past. What we then do is latch onto any minor achievement, any small victory the most minuscule of accomplishments that they are unaware of to show that we have in fact been very busy. Failing that we feed people a few lines about how were still working non-stop in the job that we can't stand so as to get the money together for any number of ideas, notions and crack pot schemes that we intend to follow through on in the near future, when the likely hood is they will never come to fruition. In these moments though is it a case that we are trying to convince the person we are speaking to of our own self worth or ourselves? 

Whilst it is an uphill struggle to come through this kind of interaction what normally makes things worse is when that question is reciprocated by your old acquaintance, who then proceeds to rhyme of a list of their latest conquests making us feel microscopic in comparison. The thing is that no matter what it is that they tell you another person's life always appears more interesting than ours, when in fact they are in much the same boat as us. They still embellish ever little achievement, highlight all the positives whilst meanwhile polishing over all of the negatives. The problem is we're an enviable bunch so no matter how things are going we always assume that someone else has got it better, as such we covet those we believe to be successful. When on the other side of the looking glass they are doing exactly the same. So whilst it's always great to catch up, it is also the cause of so much uneasiness as we worry about appearing like a failure in front of someone that we were previously very close to. The important thing though to take from these encounters is to realise how little headway we have made since we last parted ways and use this as a means to drive us forward... that and to realise that we are all as full of shit as each other so the likely hood is what they are saying and doing is much the same as you.