Life: The Only Time I Recommend a Retaliation Smack on the Face

I’ve mentioned the game before on this blog, but Portal 2 is by far one of the best games I have ever played, mostly because it is one of the funniest games I have ever played.  One of the most famous quotes from the game is Cave Johnson’s “When Life Gives You Lemons” rant, as seen in this video (note: video contains mildly vulgar language):

That’s right—when life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade.  Make life take the lemons back.  And, as I stated in my previous blog post, the lemons life is giving me are lack of motivation.  You know what, life?  You’re going to rue the day you thought you could give me lemons.  I’m the man who’s gonna burn your house down.  With the lemons.

I can honestly say that today has been a blessed day.  My mom decided that it would be a great day, since it’s the last day of summer, to go to Pokagon State Park and relax for a while, although we started off this morning starting off an exercise routine called, which was a great motivator (although, because I’ve been athletic for a while, it didn’t take that much from me).  I also ran around the neighborhood for a small while upon returning home, when I discovered where I find much of my motivation.  So, yes, life gave me lemons saying “School is coming, school is coming, and you’re not ready!” but God helped me light that lemon on fire and directly throw it into life’s third story window.

See, the realization I came to tonight was that much of the motivation I do have comes from confidence, which is a big problem because I’m very easily discouraged.  This would explain why I can never finish many projects; they don’t quite go the way I expect, I become discouraged, and I’m no longer motivated enough to do that project.  With homework—well, I’d love to put all of the blame on not completing my homework on the little motivation given by our schools, but to say that that’s not bologna would be biased.  Though the lack of motivation probably has little to do with lack of confidence that I can successfully complete the homework with correct answers, lack of confidence in something is somewhere in that reasoning.  My guess is that there is little belief that I can keep doing it at a steady habit, but that’s just a guess.  That’s probably another epiphany I’ll come to and say, “I need to blog about that!”  But now I know that if I can keep myself confident, I can be more motivated!

So now the creative process begin.  I’m learning that creative processes are what lead to making lemons—the ones that life so proudly likes to give—combust into flames, allowing them to be used as weapons.  I need to figure out how I can make myself more confident in…well, myself.  So far, I’ve come up with to goals that I believe will help solve this problem.

1. I am required to run at least once a week.
2. I am required to solve at least three problems from Project Euler a week.
3. Last but not least, I am not only required to, but it is necessary for me to pray, pray, and pray.  Without God, the above two, and any motivation at all, are probably impossible and, even if not so, are also meaningless. 

(Redundant run-ons are just horrible.  As are accidental alliterations.  These puns are so bad, I shouldn’t even be publishing this post. Oh, and P.S.? Mom, if you're reading this, apologies if you're tired of hearing about Portal. But who knew this game would actually help me improve my style of living? I mean, I've learned that it's okay to throw flaming lemons at those who insist on giving you lemons.)