Cliché

As you begin to write regularly, you quickly encounter a recurring issue: how do I avoid using words, phrases, and sayings that are overplayed. I do not want to become just one more person to loosely incorporate words such as epiphany, diverse, and carpe diem to illustrate my point. I regularly find myself afraid to type certain words into my writings, quadruple guessing their use when I do and consistently looking at the thesaurus for alternatives. How foolish of me.

These words have become overused for a reason – they are simply amazing. They concisely illustrate a feeling you have. For instance, my dad was (and I’m sure still is) very selective when he used the word awesome. He would always remind me that this word has a lot of descriptive punch. It literally means something that inspires awe within you. While I’m sure that burger at In-N-Out was great, let’s be honest, did it really create awe within you, or simply the positive feeling of being full with the promise of a bowel movement later.

This leads me to the term carpe diem. I first recognized, and I might just be an example of my generation, this word and its meaning through the film “Dead Poet’s Society”. These two words present an entire philosophy behind it. Dude, what power!

Now what I’m about to tell you is going to rock your world. It is going to be like a boxer’s right jab to the face… A Mike Tyson crunch to the ear even.

Tone down your worrying!

Life is too short to consistently be thinking of the bad things that potentially can happen. The truth is life is not a series of ill events, but good ones with bad ones sprinkled in. Enjoy the moment. I for one am tired of receiving good news, only to immediately think Oh God, that means something bad is right about to burst my bubble, or over-thinking all the bad stories I hear to the point where they come alive in my life.

I’m not saying to use this as an excuse for all sorts of rashness and quite frankly, not a reason to get yourself wasted. What I’m saying is I want to stop thinking of seconds and counting pages …I want to learn to savor my food and enjoy that book I’m reading.

Cheers.