Life of Gary

There are some things that I think I will never understand. There is a guy I know who eats and eats and eats with no end in sight. He gets really high calorie, high fat breakfasts every morning. He eats huge lunches with dessert. I don't know what he has for dinner, but I also see him snacking in between all of these meals. So the strange thing is not that he eats so much. God knows that I can understand that. The strange thing is that he is one of the thinnest people I know! I understand that there are metabolism differences between people, but this is just crazy.

Here's where I start thinking too much. I see people like that, and then I see other people with extremely slow metabolisms who just stack on the weight (myself for instance). Then I start thinking about these differences in an evolutionary sense. Back in the cave man days when food was scarce, it would have been way better to have a slow metabolism. That way you could eat a small amount and be fine for a while. People with fast metabolisms would have to keep going hunting for wooly mammoths and stuff. So you would think that those with really fast metabolisms would have died out a long time ago from hunger or wooly mammoth bites while the rest of us would be ruling the world. Now, the tables have turned. It is no longer good to have a slow metabolism. Whatever the case is now, I am just going to continue to tell myself that I am at a high evolutionary level because of my slow metabolism...and those with fast metabolisms must just be freaks of nature. It sounds good to me...but somehow it doesn't make me feel any better about it.

It amazes me how many games you have to play to succeed in corporate America. When it comes down to it, it's amazing how little people actually accomplish compared to what they are capable of. Instead of working towards a goal, everyone seems to have their own agenda. I'm not saying this is wrong since people do have to watch out for themselves. The unfortunate fact of the matter is, all it takes is one or two people having their own agendas. Once that begins, if you don't watch out for yourself, then it's pretty hard to go anywhere. This means that people have to play a role and put on an act with almost everything they do.

I have witnessed some people who basically say, "I am not changing for anyone. If they don't like who I am, then I shouldn't be working with them". I can respect that opinion. It's the opinion of someone who highly values the reality of their outward image. The problem comes in when other values get intertwined. If someone has a strong need for success or money, then they may have to put on that act to move up in the business world. Then there are people like me. I want success and money, but I don't want to lose who I am in the process of getting there. That means that everything I do is a balancing act. I need to weigh how much of myself I can show with it still being okay in the eyes of others. This is the game. I think I'm getting good at it, but it is and will probably always be exhausting.