26 September, 2006

Great quote...something to live by

My brother sent me this quote last month, as I was beginning my journey to China. It's a quote from the Marines, so I'm sure they all learn it & many likely try to live by it (they must, if they get shipped out).

It's something I am definetly living by over here in China.

"Unhappiness does not arise from the way things are but rather from a difference in the way things are and the way we believe they should be. Comfort is an illusion. A false security bred from familiar things and familiar ways. It narrows the mind. Weakens the body. And robs the soul of spirit and determination..."
(last line is
"Comfort is neither welcome nor tolerated here.")

I've never been one to get home sick...not that I don't miss home (my family, friends and the things I'm "comfortable" with), but when you're out of that comfort zone, you can't just sit back, hide and think about how you wish things were...you have to deal with it, take advantage of it & learn.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike,
You have the right attitude.
Many people live their whole life in their comfort zone, not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's good to try new things and take chances. Just try to take well thought out chances or ones that can bring you lots of money and women.

Anonymous said...

Mike,

When I went off to college, I knew it was what I was supposed to do, but I really hadn't transitioned to the new lifestyle from what I had been doing. I viewed my whole first semester as serving time until I could go back on break and get back to what I knew - my comfort zone. Eventually, I got used to some things, developed a new baseline, and then found my own, new, and prefered path. I suspect there are some stages that you go through as you adjust. If you journal in your blog, and go back and re-read, these stages may become clear to you in hindsight. If you doccument them to yourself mentally, you will see that adjustment is a process, and you can then understand where you are in it. Moving from one stage to the next doesn't happen overnight, just like aging doesn't either. Your really no different the day you turn 30, than the night before you went to sleep 29. It's all mindset. Good post on Marine wisdom. - Mark.

manninchina said...

Dave, thanks for the advice :

Mark, it will be interesting to look back and see how much I changed being over here...I'm sure I will see a huge difference...especially in the art of patience.

Anonymous said...

Mike,
Change is the constant in our lives we try our best to avoid.
When confronted with change we can expect to go through:

Shock
Denial
Anger
Passive Acceptance
Exploration
Challenge

How long we stay in each phase depends on how dramatic we perceive the change to be.

When you come back to the US your perspective on the country will be one touched with insights most people never achieve.

Jim