Quagmire of Life

Quagmire has two definitions.  One is a soft boggy area similar to a marsh and the other definition is a precarious situation.  Either way we get stuck in the Quagmires of Life.

In today's ever changing financial arena, I have found myself in a bit of a quagmire.  The one thing that I strive for in my life is freedom.  I value freedom and choice.  Sometimes the choices we make are not the best and so we end up learning from them.  That is where I am today.

Now how does one get out of the quagmire of what appears to be meloncholy, depression or discouragement, whatever term you can relate with can fit here.  The first thing is not to become a victim of the consequences in which you have created.  Many of the situations in life we chose and could have avoided but because we were unaware of what was waiting on the otherside we took a chance.  Very similiar to the stock market.  We live in the ups and downs of the world daily.  How we forge through is what makes the leaders shine through.

As much as I try to not show my meloncholy ways, it does show through at times and that is when I need to take a step back and ensure that I am not taking on the victim role but that I am truly seeking the path to clarity and resolution.

Oh, it's difficult to do even for the most seasoned individual but it can be done.  How you ask? Well, just as you attack an elephant in the room one bite at a time, that is how you approach the situation.  That is what I did, I looked at what did my quagmire consist of and what were the things I could change.  I changed the easiest things first because let's face it, the sense of accomplishment helps us forge in faster and further.  If one tries to tackle the most difficult thing first and fails, that begins the spiral of uncontrollability and that leads to the pit of despair.

Anytime you are caught in the quagmire of life, one can get out, it just takes thought and you can get out.  It may be a slow trudge through but what awaits on the other side is so amazing.  Being free and choosing to live a free life comes with a price. I will say this, that I sought my freedom years ago and I speak my mind.  I value honesty and truth above all and because of this philosophy, the quagmires of life don't get me down as often or as long as they used to because I know how to get through them.  Sure, I am human and deal with life issues daily, but it is your approach to how you face your problem/demon that makes the difference.

If you are relying on others to help you then you are a victim and will remain in the quagmire for sometime, maybe never getting through, because depending on who you are asking to throw you a life vest, may change everything.  If you resolve to seek assistance, by asking questions, doing your homework, learning, gaining knowledge and finding others who have been in your shoes before and how they resolved then you are moving forward and are not a victim but a seeker of the truth and a trader.  You seek to trade your knowledge with others so that you too can move faster through your quagmire of life.

Remember you have the freedom to choose your path and where it leads you and sometimes that choice leads us not to where we believed it would so we must choose again.  This doesn't mean we should stop making choices, but we must learn from them.

Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision.
Ayn Rand

The essence of learning

Ayn Rand was a phenomenal woman a true role model to all Americans and she was Russian.  She saw many flaws with her own country and she also saw America as a great place.  Today her philosophies and stories, such as Atlas Shrugged, are more prevalent in our country than ever.  The essence of her philosophy is simple yet so many have such difficulty understanding or trying to live this way.  She lives by Objectivism which consists of these four areas:

1. Metaphysics Objective Reality
2. Epistemology Reason
3. Ethics Self-interest
4. Politics Capitalism

Simply translated it is

1. Nature, to be commanded must be obeyed.  Wishing for something won't make it so.
2. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.
3. Man is an end to himself
4. Give me liberty or give me death.

These philosophies are indicative to our very human essence no matter what religion you believe.  These are humanistic concepts that should be valid to our very core. 

Ayn Rand discusses Objectivism very easily.

My philosophy, Objectivism, holds that:

1. Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes or fears.
2. Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man’s senses) is man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.
3. Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
4. The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders, by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit. It is a system where no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force, and no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. The government acts only as a policeman that protects man’s rights; it uses physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use, such as criminals or foreign invaders. In a system of full capitalism, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.

http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=objectivism_intro

Think about what are your values?  Are you a trader or a taker? When was the last time you voiced your opinion?  Why did or didn't you? 

It is time to start standing up for what you believe.  Opening up your mind to the world outside of your own and learning.  One thing I am a big advocate for is learning.  I do not believe one stops learning  because they have all the knowledge, I believe one stops seeking knowledge due to fear.  What are you afraid of to learn?  Ask yourself the question you might be surprised at what you learn and the doors that it will open.