TL;DR: On your journey Upriver, you will encounter many resistances; it is the ‘small’ and ‘insignificant’ issues that will truly lead to demise and thus we must orient our defenses to these instead of the ‘big’ issues.
Introduction
Welcome back UpRiver, Biohacker.
Today in the mindset column, we will be covering something a little different. Namely, instead of offering your prescriptions about things that one must be sure to do, this time the message comes more as a cautionary warning against the things one must not. It is also important to read this article in conjunction with our article entitled “Improvement from Subtraction,” which can be found HERE. With that said and without further ado, we offer you, the reader, a famous proverb of wisdom:
“Elephants don’t bite, mosquitos do.”
Storytime: Let Me Paint You A Picture
Often in life, we have a good thing going. We are close to the dream body we’ve shed blood, sweat and tears to achieve; we have one more sale to make before receiving that big bonus you know awaits the employee with amazing numbers like yours; you have one more hand to shake until your business becomes self-sustaining; and you have one date to go on until you feel the time is right to ask her to be your girlfriend. It doesn’t matter the case, we have all been there and will all be there once more – the right track. An issue arises though…
You become too comfortable.
Little by little you do things that take away from the path that brought you this close to success or in some cases, even across the finish line. Your once increasing savings account starts to stagnate. You stop seeing the pounds go down week after week on the scale. What’s happening? Well…
The mosquitos are biting.
You ask yourself why your progress has stopped, or in the worst of circumstances, reversed. You think back and you can’t seem to remember any massive expenses or catastrophes that set you back, nor can you remember any huge vacations you took where you ditched your diet. Sure you may have been getting up a little later than you used to, but you’re still trying to work on your business everyday… right? I mean, you clearly like the girl you’ve been seeing but there’s been a lot of parties lately and events so you had to bail a few times on her, or kept her waiting a few minutes (hours that one time…) as you were late for your date.
An Explanation
You’re looking for the cataclysmic event that lead to an obvious moment you can track back to your downturn. You won’t find it. In essence, you’re looking for the elephant that bit you. The funny thing is though…
elephants don’t bite.
On the other hand, however, mosquitos do.
You barely ever see them and you don’t even feel pain when they initially do their harm. It takes time for their frustrating effects to manifest, but as we all, unfortunately, know too well, manifest they do. Therefore, it is the mosquito we must evade and defend against, not the elephant.
Another Angle
In ancient China, there was a kind of capital punishment and torture. It was known as Lingchi (Chinese: 凌遲). Lingchi, describes a type of technique where one was met with fatal consequences as a result of slowly inflicting small wounds on the body. Quite interestingly, these wounds would remain relatively consistent throughout the entire procedure, on the surface, the second not looking anymore devastating than the first, and so on. Despite the wounds being of identical intensity and similar intervals between each administration, their compounding and collective trauma and pain to the recipient was exponential.
In English, this process is both literally and metaphorically referred to as death by a thousand cuts. The ancient Chinese recognized that even though the punishment started off relatively easy and innocuous, as the infliction continued, the 100th cut revealed the true torturous ability hidden within even the first cut. By the final cuts, the combination of blood loss and overwhelming agony the subject faced were ultimately enough to cause death in whichever unfortunate bastard faced the punishment.
How This Applies To You
As clearly illustrated in both versions of the same message, it is the things that appear small and inconsequential that truly have large effects on the good things we have going for us. Namely, the reason why your bank account suffers constantly is not because you bought a yacht – well at least most of you.
The reason it suffers is because you eat dinner out 6 times a week. The reason you stopped losing weight on the scale is because, even though you felt good about almost seeing your abs, you started snacking before bed. The reason you lost the girl is because you started showing her that too many other things were priorities in your life at that time. The reason you didn’t get that final handshake was because you stopped studying your numbers and you didn’t know what to say when asked about the backend of your business. Regardless of what the particulars are, you understand the point being made here.
Author’s Motivation
I realize that this article is written in the form of what is essentially a biohacking parable. The reason for this is I wanted to tell a story that truly illustrates the point. We are all in different places in our lives and walk paths idiosyncratically. We move at different paces and travel in different directions. What unites us here at UpRiver is that we recognize that the majority of people in today’s society would prefer to move in a way similar to one another at the hand of societal instruction.
As you’re here, you’ve probably found a place that you’d like to end up. Namely, one better (in our eyes) than the one mainstream thinking tells us we ought to. Often this is quite difficult. We need help. This article though, was motivated by recognizing that as much as we welcome help, we ought also to defend against hurt. In order to feast, we must fight against famine. In that frame of mind, this article was born and I hope this change of perspective allows you, the reader, to also see the benefits of examining your journey UpRiver from this angle. For more articles regarding perspective, change check out anyone of the following amazing resources we provide: (Stoicism); (Meditation); (How to Be More Manly).
Conclusion
Guys, the reality is, it is incredibly important that you continue the behavior that got you to where you are, if where you are is somewhere you’re happy being. If you’re in the same place you were last year, it’s because your behaviour is the same as it was last year. Now, that may be a good place or a bad place. Regardless of how you feel toward your current paradigm, the sole person responsible for it is you. Only you. By the same token, it’s imperative to your journey UpRiver that you to come to terms with a couple of key things:
First: if you are on an upward trajectory, mosquitos are not your friends. This applies to those also seeking to return to their lifestyle incline or reach it for the first time in their lives.
Second: forget about the elephants, they do not concern you. You’re going to want to prepare for the big catastrophes, but they seldom occur.
With all this said, I leave you with this:
Ultimately, Lingchi is relatively painless; then it’s torturous; then it’s lethal. Remember, elephants don’t bite….mosquitoes do.
Until next time, biohacker. Keep moving UpRiver.
