The Poison that Nearly Killed Me.

Hello Internet, friends, and family! Today is July 17, 2015. I’ve got a story to tell you. For the past few months, I have been free from most responsibilities. Summer break from school came, and I had big plans. Plans to write every single day and to finish at least one book before I graduate college next spring. However, I started to fail myself. In a world filled with technology, the illness of procrastination came over me. Why spend all day writing, when you can do mindless internet shenanigans?

So for the past few months, my life was filled with gaming, Facebook, Youtube, and endless amounts of screen scrolling. In the amount of time I have spent scrolling on my smart phone and staring at my computer screen, I could’ve written multiple short stories and probably finished a novel by now. So, what does this mean? Well it means I’ve caught myself in the act. Thankfully, it hasn’t been ten years before I noticed. I’m a writer. I won’t make money playing games, and no one will pay me to scroll down on a Facebook or Twitter feed. My dream is to be an author and see my name at a bookstore nearest you.

For the last few weeks I’ve been pleading with myself to get back to writing. I got a nice desk and study area. I even bought a little fountain for the desk! I was so excited to claim the area as my own and write, write, write. But it just didn’t happen. It didn’t happen because I have to ignore the internet while I’m in there. The internet/wifi connection has been my poison. I’ve been addicted to it and unable to break free. Then yesterday, everything became clear.

I was watching Netflix on the Wii U, using the internet. It was a movie I’ve seen before, but I really wanted to see it again: Without a Paddle. This movie discusses a crazy treasure hunt of three best friends trying to fulfill the final wish of their fourth friend who recently passed on. They, like me, go up a creek and without a paddle. Then, when they’re at their lowest moment, a forest man takes them into his house at gun point. His name is Del Knox and he has been living on the mountain for thirty years, searching for his friend who was lost in a parachuting accident.

After some brief conversation Del says something extremely profound, “I spent the best years of my life sittin' on the porch, playin' the harmonica, waitin' for somethin' better. And the years have been goin' by faster, and faster, and then, all of a sudden, I was an old man.”

“Well I bet you can play the $#@% outta that harmonica!” says Tom Marshall.

“That I can. 'Cept there's no one around to hear me play it. Piece of advice: you can lose your money. You can spend it - all of it. Maybe work hard, get it all back. But if you waste your time, you're never gonna get it back.”

As this blog is called “Never Grow Old,” I wanted to begin it with this entry. Ten years from now I want to look back on this day and be able to say that I began living my dreams today. I don’t want to sit on the porch, mindlessly being sucked into the internet. I want to live. So, I have to be who I want to become by starting over. I don’t want to wait any more. So before I miss my opportunity, I want to take that opportunity and run with it.

When I was on a service mission in the Madagascan islands, a smart man told me that if you work hard in America, you will become rich. The truth however, is that if you work hard in any country you will become wise, and with that wisdom you will be able to serve your family and others more willingly.

So Internet, this is goodbye. I am disconnecting the wifi from my laptop, and I will only emerge when I have something to report. Thank you all for your support, love, and friendship.

I will return.

                                                                                             

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-Derek (refindthetime)