"Do You Remember" by Jack Johnson
Written by Jack Johnson
Produced by Mario Caldato, Jr.
Released on In Between Dreams (March 1, 2005)
I'm always majorly impressed and minorly jealous of people like Jack Johnson. As a teenager he was a world class surfer. Then as an adult he became a platinum-selling singer-songwriter. I'm only minorly jealous because as cool as that type of success seems, I've learned enough to know that I'm certainly never going to attain it.
Throughout my life I have become very good at a handful of things. When I was younger, I did well in school. I was a good enough musician to play in my college's jazz band for three years. I found success after college as a fun and (hopefully) effective camp counselor and outdoor educator. I experienced moderate (local) success playing competitive Magic: The Gathering. On some days I'm a very good teacher. I win a lot of local trivia nights.
But when I consider all of that, as good as I've been at many different things, I've never been exceptional. I never wanted to put in the work to get all A's in school. I enjoyed playing the saxophone, but didn't like practicing. I did a lot of good as a camp counselor, but I also found plenty of times to slack off. I've won more games of Magic than I've lost, but I never had much success against the best competition. I've had successes as a teacher, but I know I've let my fair share of students down too. I'm pretty good at trivia, but I have never passed the online Jeopardy test.
Could I have become world class at any of these things? Sometimes I wonder if my lack of effort is more of a protection for myself. I can always fall back on the idea that if I had decided to try harder, I could have been great. But that's the problem. I almost always choose the easier path. That's not to say that I never work hard, but it's rarely consistent. That level of work needed to excel at anything, makes things that I otherwise enjoy feel too much like work. Playing saxophone in my college's jazz band was fun. Playing Magic is fun. Working with campers and students is often fun and fulfilling. Putting in the extra work needed to become the best in any of those fields would not have been much fun.
Writing this blog is the same way. Sometimes writing is fun, and I enjoy putting my thoughts down on paper (or on screen), but too much writing feels like work. This will be my 54th entry on this blog, and it was taken me nearly two years to get that far. I definitely want to finish, but sometimes I just don't want to write.
I still want to feel the sense of accomplishment that someone like Jack Johnson must feel. I have spurts of inspiration and drive, but sitting around doing nothing feels pretty good too sometimes.
Anyway, this is a great song from a talented artist. I've written one more post. Maybe I'll start my next one tomorrow. I should probably get started on my summer reading assignment for work, but that could probably wait until next week, right? What haven't I watched on Netflix yet...
Right now, "Do You Remember" by Jack Johnson is (probably) by 47th favorite song of all time.
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