F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Energy

Words. They Affect Us.

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Make The Right Choice. (By Realart Pictures Corporation [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)
Make The Right Choice. (By Realart Pictures Corporation [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)
Isn’t it amazing how words affect a person?

Oddly enough, this really hit home as my wife and I were watching Birdman—a movie we both loved. But there was a scene in there when Michael Keaton’s character, Riggan, was baring his soul about why he was doing what he was doing, and Edward Norton’s character, Mike, basically tells him his reason was based on a lie. Riggan believes him. Questions his life (there was more than one scene like this, but this one in particular really drove my point home to me), really hit me.

The words we say…write…have incalculable power. They can destroy relationships and topple governments. They can also soothe and bring together. Yet we don’t seem to really respect the power of our words when we speak them. We say things we wish we could take back. We’re flippant and uncaring of those we hurt.

We claim we just say it “like it is.”

That we’re only “being honest.”

But is that really the truth?

This can all be applied to both the spoken and written word: what if it’s not so much “honesty” we’re being…as lazy? What if…we’re just not putting in the time and effort to be more observant of the distant end of our conversations? We’re not putting in the effort to tailor our vocal or written expositions to be more considerate of the situation or persons with which we are interacting?

As writers, we like to think that we’re considering each and every word we put down. We like to think we ask the tough questions, explore the uneasy avenues. But when we write or voice brutal, even nasty reviews or opinions about someone or something…are we really putting in the needed effort? What’s the real point in tearing down another’s work, even if it is in the public domain? To prove you’re better? That another sucks? Why? Why does it really matter? In writing that book review, what’s the real reason you’re being ruthless about your opinion of a weak plot, lame characters, or poor writing? To show your mastery and command of your native language?

Why must there be so much accusatory finger-pointing and negativity?

Show your mastery of your native language by avoiding “the nasty” and discussing the item at hand by “taking the High Road.” Whatever that means.

When talking at parties, don’t be so ready to pick apart another’s work or talk behind another’s back. Spread gossip. In fact, do you really even have to talk about something you don’t like at all? Is there really so little you do like to talk about that you have to tear down other people’s efforts? Other people? Is there so little good in the world that you have to constantly visit the negative?

And I’m not just talking about writers.

Lately, I seem to be running into so many people who seem to have nothing good to say. I recently stood in a line and as I listened to the various conversations going on, I realized not one person had one good thing to say about anything. Don’t you see how this will color your outlook on life? How it will color your actions and thoughts? If all you talk about is the negative, how can you be positive?

How can you be a good person and how can you spread goodness and positive energy?

Everything in this world starts with you.

Your thoughts. Your actions.

And, as in Riggan’s case, if you know the real truth behind an action…an action that another used as a corner-stone upon which they created their life (in a good way)…why spoil it for others? Keep it to yourself. If it doesn’t hurt anyone, allow that person to live their life and exist as they choose to.

Words have power. Words contain energy.

Energy is Life.

Focus on only using, attracting, and putting out only good energy.

And if you’re gonna nail me and this post with propagating “Pollyanna nonsense,” you’re missing the very deep, very soulful and salient point. Please reconsider your thoughts and reread this post.

Namaste!

Energy Drinks—Really?

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Energy Drink Dosen Sammlung
Energy Drinks (Photo credit: D.ST.)

It absolutely floors me that twenty-year-olds need energy drinks.

That anybody between the ages of teenage-hood through their thirties would actually need this stuff.

But many seem to carry their drinks around like badges of honor. The stuff is marketed to their demographic. I’m not saying I was a Greek God in my 20s and 30s, but I certainly never even tried the stuff until into my late 40s. In my college days I did try (but never inhaled) bee pollen.

In my 20s and 30s were my most intense workouts. At one point I did four types of workouts within a single week and I got (for some period of time) ungodly small amounts of sleep.  Yet, during these intense training sessions did I use any “energy enhancers”?

Negative.

I’m not dumping on twenty- and thirty-year olds. I’m just curious as to the explosion of this entire phenomena. When I was in m 20s and 30s, I was quite energetic. And I know everyone’s metabolisms are different, lifestyle demands, et cet, but, still, to lump the demographic into one package and observe the amount of twenty- and thirty-year-olds downing the stuff astounds me. And it does so for another reason: I’ve tried a handful of them and not only do they taste like fricking acid (haven’t found one that tastes any kind of “good”), but in every case I experienced no “surge” of energy.

Zero.

Yet, I admit, on days when I’m absolutely beat, I still try them to see if maybe (pleeease, Lord in Heaven!) they can help…but I just do not and never feel any “lift” from any of them.

I literally get more effectiveness out of loads of caffeine (and by “loads,” I do mean a couple 12- or 16-ounce Mountain Dews, or a Starbucks Venti or Trenti iced coffees).

Note: even Starbucks is now getting into the “energy drink” biz, with Refreshers. Anyone but me find this just a tad more than ironic?

I’ve always had a fast metabolism, and even now though it’s not what it used to be (my appetite remains legendary within familial circles), it’s still higher than most people. So, does “running hotter” play in any of this, in that slower metabolisms are more easily affected?

So, okay, according to the [short] history of energy drinks, these things evolved on our end of the pond as a way to help college students pull all-nighters and young professionals to pack more hours into their days. I’ve tried the Gatorades. Jolt cola. Red Bull, Monster, and those ridiculously tiny bottles of Five-Hour Energy (both regular and hyped up), and probably one or two other brands.

Nothing.

I wish I could report something.

Buuut…I can’t.

But still…energy drinks…for twenty- and thirty-year-olds?

Floors me.

Perhaps what’s really at the heart of my issue is that many of today’s “youthful” are not all that healthy, which means they are vitamin or minerally (that a word?) deficient? Are all those “hyped-up” energy drink ingredients really making up for dietary deficiencies…not to mention invoking a “placebo effect” in many users (I read a National Geographic article about caffeine research, and some respondents claimed immediate energy gain after drinking, say, a Red Bull, when it’s scientifically proven the effects of caffeine on the human condition take one hour to feel.

An hour, people.

But, again, what does a twenty- or thirty-year-old need with this stuff?

Where is all that youthful energy? Why is it only found in bottles? Or is it even more basic than that, and it’s merely the marketing people are buying [into]. They may work on others (as advertised) but I’ve never found any one of them to work on me, and to find them marketed to the youth of society (as you might gather by now) utterly stupefies me. If those things really do work, then they need to be developed and marketed to the soccer moms and dads, those who work 60+-hour weeks. Firefighters. The military (heck, they already have caffeinated gum). Marathon runners (but they’ve already been doing this for centuries, so do they really need them?). Those are the people who need the help to keep going and going and never stop.

Not twenty-year-olds.

Great Expectations!

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Many say (especially in the writing world, and usually associated with getting agents, publishers, or life-changing advances) that we should keep our expectations low. “Realistic.”

I disagree with that!

I feel that if we don’t keep our expectations high, we don’t reach.

We don’t grow.

I believe that, yes, we understand things may or may not happen for whatever reason(s)…but if you want something, truly want it…why shouldn’t we keep our expectations high?

What does “keep oneself ‘grounded in reality'” mean? What reality? If our reality is not what we want it to be–why the hell would we want to remain “grounded” in it?

Why should expectations be reigned in–be so controlled?

I don’t think all the energy associated with expectations is meant to be stomped into the ground and stifled. Pushed down beneath so many layers of anyone else’s so-called “reality” and I suck and will never go anywhere. I believe expectations are meant to be released, given free–exuberant–expression!

Whether or not the object of our expectations pan out is another matter. I feel that whether or not our objects-of-expectation materialize is based upon our beliefs, when is the best time for them to materialize, or any of a number of other factors of which we may or may not have any idea. That there are things going on in the background that we may or may not entirely understand that directly affects said goal manifestion…but that does not mean we shouldn’t express our expectations in a manner deserving of them!

I certainly don’t want to remain “grounded in reality” when it comes to not attaining any goals I’m striving for. Expectations are not wasted nor useless efforts or energy, but should be used to help propel us toward our goals! Give us hope. The energy to sustain our quest (our journey!) for our goals. Note how athletes get psyched up for events:

We’re gonna kick your ass!

I’m gonna move a ton of weight!

We’re gonna take that Superbowl!

Isn’t that all just another muscled-up way of ramping up one’s expectations?

The goal of goals should be in the journey, not necessarily in just the attaining of goals! Whether or not we get our books published, our scripts produced, or our Superbowls won isn’t necessarily the point. It’s about taking the road to bettering our lives. Improving our abilities. The point should also be in having excitement for life…for the things we want to do (though we don’t all express “excitement” in the same way)! To being happy in our every day life, whether or not we get everything we think we want, and not to be pinned or stomped down by negativity and pessimism…nor grounded in realities we want to change.

Well, that’s my perspective, anyway…it’s what I expect.