"This time, it's personal..."

If anyone was around when Jaws XX.L came out (slight exaggeration) you may remember the tag line "This time,it's personal..." Yep, in the late 80's people flocked (OK, another exaggeration.. ) to the cinema to see a shark get it's revenge on the people who hunted Great Whites.
What can I say, it was getting to be a slow decade...
The tag line, and even the premise of an emotionally oblivious shark taking measures to intentionally terrorize humans, seems fitting for this post.
Because really- this post is both more personal (that's my typical default by the way), and has to do with the absurdity of our perceptions that the world is out to get us, or at least doesn't like us.
You may never have felt that way, but I'm going to posit that it is a fairly common feeling/belief. Whether it is momentary or a more lasting perception there is something in us that can be swayed to believe that the shark is out to get us, personally. That a persons lack of a smile, or disapproving look or a bad mood was directed at you; and if you're like me, you are left with the task of trying to figure out what you had done and to then try to make yourself better to be better accepted.
It's a hurtful, exhausting experience. It's a dozen times worse when you are really hoping for that persons approval.
It just sucks.
And the truth is I don't have an answer to fix it. My guess is that the answer lies more in learning how to swim with sharks (not to steal another Hollywood reference) than in defeating or changing the sharks. I have to learn how to live among the things that have teeth and can hurt me, but live among them in such a way that they don't rule over me. In the immortal words of Dori (NEMO, folks- Nemo!) "Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...."

At the moment, what that practically looks like for me is this,

Don't be jealous of my snazzy fabric covered shoe box, now...

What you are seeing is my first deposit of the year for a 52 week savings plan that will finance my "big adventure"...a four day hiking trek to Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon. A great reminder that there is soo much more to life.