Tolerance.
Growing up, my dad used to watch the Tour de France. For the longest time I never really understood the Tour de France, mostly because the riders always looked like they weren’t enjoying themselves. Why face some of the most daunting hill climbs/descents in the world, push your body to the absolute limit, and then try again the next day after you nearly passed out crossing the finish line. Only up until recently I discovered why. The reason I believe people push themselves to the maximal is of course because of the high associated with the activity. But less looked upon and equally as important, is the further you push your boundaries and capabilities as an individual, the easier life becomes.
We synthesize extreme states of being because the output results in higher ceilings for tolerance. The higher we push our tolerance, the easier it becomes to face life's hardest lessons. The reason I love tolerance is because once you pass a previous threshold, something amazing happens. We start to recondition our state of thinking. Instead of fixating ourselves on what we cannot do, we start to believe we can do just about anything. Resulting in the loss of something that dictates most people’s lives which is fear. The example I have top of mind is David Blaine locking himself in a block of ice for two and a half days. Not only did he accomplish something that is beyond psychotic, he did so and showed the rest of the world that our thoughts are merely distractions to what we are genuinely capable of.
Birthing a new state of thinking brings us to where we are today. We have individuals who act as lighthouses that merely serve as a guide for us to dredge through the ocean of limiting beliefs. They shine light on what we as humans are capable of when we rewrite our conditioned selves. The reason this is important is because there is absolutely a doom and gloom narrative being thrown around. The media has been manipulated to bring forth the most engaging content it can conjure. Resulting in language like, “AI this and AI that. We are losing jobs and our economy is in shambles.” While all completely relevant and scary, there are people out there who will run a marathon a day to cross the continent of Africa by foot (His name is the Hardest Geezer and it took him a year to finish). The Hardest Geezer isn’t on the tarmac thinking about how Elon Musk is going to ruin his day today, he has a goal, and wants to see it through to the end.
The biggest lesson of tolerance and what I think it teaches people the most, is that when we reframe our thinking, we ultimately become more optimistic. After you complete a marathon, bicycle to the top of the Pyrenees, freedive a hundred feet, and the AI statement gets thrown around. You can say, “Well I just did this incredible thing that took every ounce of my being to complete, so who says I can’t find a footing in the new economy.”
A big shout out to my friend Finn who has been going through it this last year and half. He’s absolutely my lighthouse, and I can’t wait for him to regain his life back. All the complications and mishaps that he’s been able to endure and still wake up every day excited to take on the next challenge. Where most would break, he’s been able to find purpose. All while teaching me I need to raise my tolerance.
Thanks for reading.
With love,
Kai
Weekly Poem:
Thoughts are merely shadows dancing in a cave
The more you consume them the more you believe they are real
Until one day you realize
Liberation comes from within, not out
