How April Fools Day Can Make You Wiser
Every year our our newsfeeds clog up with the requisite “I’m pregnant”s, “I finally went to that dream city” and “I hooked up with so and so”.
It’s funny how people take only one day out of the year to speak what’s always been on their minds, and it’s the day they expect no one to believe them. I wonder if there’s a petition out there to rename April Fool’s to “What I Really Think Day”.
A little reading between the lines has always proved to be more beneficial than not, even if it’s not without its hazards (read: in the same vein, ignorance may also be bliss if that’s your cup of tea).
I suppose the main point of this little post really is this: Perception is key to living life on bigger terms. People like to put themselves in little boxes, operating in finite terms, functioning through limited goals. This is not to say that we shouldn’t be realistic, by all means, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t aim higher, either.
It’s all about perception. You could think of it as a typical day in the career you hate, sitting beside that officemate you have nothing in common with, listening to her or him prattle on about something you have no interest in. You could think of it as a city with nothing to do, with a bunch of nobodies to hang out with, too sleepy for your racy socialite needs. You could think of it as a subject in school you are convinced will have absolutely no impact in your life as a future Palanca winner. You could think of it as the nth time your lover has missed the point of your well-rehearsed argument.
But here’s the rub: more often than not, we have no fucking idea what we’re talking about. We never see more than meets the eye - and we always judge things before we give them a chance, then we put them in the boxes we like to call our lives. We are constantly frustrated by our own impositions. And everyone in the world is just like us.
Except on April Fools Day. That day where we allow ourselves to think just beyond what we usually allow ourselves, that day we hope a little more ridiculously, aim a little more frivolously, talk a little more freely.
So here’s my question: Why not be frivolous, ridiculous, and free more often? I’m sure detractors have a ready “because we can’t afford to, you silly daydreamer”.
That’s where you’re wrong.
Every single person can afford to dream, so dream big, dream stupid, dream ridiculous. A heightened awareness of ourselves, the world around us, and the people we interact with broadens our perception and allows us to live life on bigger, better terms.
That sleepy little town where absolutely nothing interesting happens is a motherlode of possibility for someone else. Your lover who doesn’t understand you loves you anyway. Your office mate talks so much to you because you are so different from everyone else, exchanging admiration for your scorn. That subject you hate was paid for by your father who never got to take it because they were poor growing up. What you think is boring reality is someone else’s dream. Again, perception is key.
Find awesomeness in mundane life, not because you’re a person incapable of coming to terms with reality, but because you’re the kind of person who looks at the world with constant, new-found wonder.
Happy April Fool’s Day.
