On repeat

After we've lived a few years, life begins to look like it's operating on repeat. This is because the same foundational building blocks are at play at all times. Human beings function within the same parameters and we begin to recognize archetypes we have seen before. 

We can be tempted to feel that things are getting stale because we've seen too much. This is part of the work I am doing in pushing back on some of the cynicism which has seeped into my thinking over the years. By now we've all been burned by events which can work to undo our optimism. 

At the same time I have renewed sense of looseness and freedom and a desire to pass on my experience to youth. I love to talk to them and help soften blows they are invariably bound to encounter. 

My generation didn't have a lot of social wiggle room but we didn't realize it fully until we got older. We were working within limited slots which at once provided structure but also imprisoned us. 

But in realizing that there is repetition in life need not mean settling into monotony. It just means we can see things coming far sooner and deal with them appropriately.