What is Your Burning Building?
A fat kid is eating chips and chocolate while playing Call of Duty on a sunny summer day. During the middle of a game, he hears a sound in the distance coming down his street. It’s the ice cream truck! Playing that hypnotic sound going down the suburban streets to capture parents’ and kids’ attention to make money.
The fat kid leaves the game instantly, runs to his room, finds all the spare change he has and bolts out the door running down the street for the ice cream truck. Other kids are running for the truck too. It’s blue skies and not a cloud in sight, a perfect day for an ice cream.
The van eventually slows down now that it’s caught enough kid's attention, some are fighting for the first spot, but the fat kid knows he’s going to get his ice cream, he wasn’t running that fast because he knows the van was eventually going to stop, he knows the game.
He waits last so he doesn’t run the risk of getting bumped by another kid and the ice cream falls out of the cone. He gets his ice cream and he accomplishes his goal. He chased down the van, he knew it was going to stop and he could see what he was going towards, he knew exactly what was going to happen so he could just cruise, he didn’t need to push or shove anyone out of the way. It’s not like there was a lion behind him chasing after him until he caught the ice cream truck. It’s nothing like Temple Run.
Now… put that same kid in the exact same scenario, this time only:
He’s in a big building with lots of kids and families.
Eating chips and chocolate, playing Call of Duty.
Suddenly a fire breaks out and most of the Exit’s are stuck except one.
Now the fat kid doesn’t wait last, doesn’t consider the risks of getting bumped and shoved by other people, he doesn’t know if this fire is going to stop or get worse so escape is impossible. He doesn’t wait! He needs to get out before the fire chases him down or very well lose his life, he’s too young to die!!! He thinks to himself and takes action, pushing women and children out of the way to get out of the growing wave of flames behind him. He makes it out of the cramped exit and is safe from the burning building. He didn’t know what was going to happen so he didn’t just cruise. It was exactly like Temple Run this time.
Why did the fat kid get out of the burning building as FAST as he could but didn’t chase down the ice cream van with the same intensity, why did he push other kids out the way this time instead of waiting to be last? Why didn’t he cruise and take his time like jogging down the street for another delicious treat?
Because this time there was a VERY REAL consequence here. Unlike when he was running from the ice cream van, if he got a stitch and wasn’t fit enough to chase down the van until it stopped… so what? He saves himself from consuming more sugar, getting fatter and running the risk of getting diabetes. Sounds like more a positive to me that he missed out.
If the fat kid didn’t get out of the burning building behind him:
He burns to death
Suffocates from the smoke
A mixture of two
Horrible ways to leave this planet. There was real fear, real unknown, real consequences. The consequences were crystal clear if this kid didn’t do anything about his current situation.
We don’t ponder over this enough as humans! It’s not necessarily what’s in front of us that is pushing us forward to our goals, hopes and dreams. But it is more often the time what we are running away from that’s behind us that launches us forward to achieve what we want with great intensity.
We are more often afraid of something catching up to us and catching us off guard than seeing something come from in front of us. It goes back to Hunter Gatherer times. What is coming from behind us is way more threatening than what we can see. Because we can’t see what’s behind us until we look back, sometimes we’re too afraid to look back but we have to know if we are going to survive.
The Human Brain has been evolving for millions of years and this is why we are like this. It all goes back to our ancestors. If we didn’t stop to see what’s behind us… then you’re dead meat. That doesn’t mean always looking back then you would lose direction of where you were going in the first place. It’s a balance, an awareness of mind to look in all directions because you don’t know what’s coming at any given moment.
This applies to all of us and is a nice reminder to look back and see what is driving us to keep pushing on the path we are on. You may figure out who you are, it might all click for you, and you might just gain a tiny bit more clarity. Everyone is different and our paths are all unique to us.
Look back everyone and then, remind yourself of the real consequences of not accomplishing your goals, hopes and dreams and why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Don’t let that burning building get the better of you. You’re too important to get taken out like that.
Until next time, unless the building gets the better of me.
Brody
