Why are there so many zombies in social life right now? How is it that everywhere I turn, I see some sense of zombie movie, show or character. Game of thrones has these winter ones, there is izombie, the walking dead, the plants vs zombies game….the list goes on. Remember the vampire craze that was going on before that? I believe that these types of trends speak volumes about who we are and what is going on in our lives. They speak to the heaviness, the dark, the light, the emotion that we as a people experience collectively…but perhaps do not have the words to express. So without words to express it…we turn to art to create it.
You see, I see these zombie characters and what comes to mind is what it means. What is a zombie, anyway? Essentially they are all the same thing…this corpse…dead…but alive. Moving but without direction, hungry, tired, yearning and wanting. They are the walking dead.
I believe that dying is easy. Coming from my background and experience, I certainly can tell you how easy it is to die…and the simple fact is that real death is easy. Simple. A motorcycle accident, a tumor, a seizure, simple ways to die. What I’m talking about is about ways that we die that don’t involve a bullet or old age. Because death doesn’t always have to come with a casket. Like zombies, we can be alive but still dead. It can be a quick creative/psychological death, like the sudden loss of a lifelong partner or family member…or it can be a slow burn, like being a lifer at a job you hate.
I remember being dead for a time in my life. Nothing moved me. Nothing sparked life into me. Nothing spoke to me. There was no meaning. I was not alive. People were toys. Life was a checklist and I lived in my head. At one point, life was dead…my life meant holding onto a number until it was called. I think that most people are dead. And sadly…they don’t make the choice to live until they feel they are going to die. They are given a expiration date by someone and suddenly life opens. The clouds break and they do more for themselves and others than they ever have before. Why the hell did they wait for so long? Why did they decide to live only when told they are going to die?
Stop living dead. Dead really means that you live a processed life. One that you don’t create…but that is manufactured, not by design but by circumstance. We fall victim to everything that we are afraid of…we create the very monsters that we fear and complain when we cannot beat them. Failure. Love. Your past. Your future. We die because we are not convinced that anything will be different. Existence is easy. Hell…existence is a given. You’re given it the day you were born…but being alive demands more. That is the difference. Existing vs. living. Because living requires work. It requires more from us. It requires fear, risk and chance. Living requires that we give the middle finger to the monsters in our closet, knowing that we’re going to get dirty and bruised from the fight.
That’s the trick. To live…you have to get dirty. Face who you were, are, need to be in order to get out of the fuckin’ line. There will be pain. Lots of pain, physically, mentally, emotionally. Remember, pain doesn’t mean weakness or death. Pain means you’re living. It means strength and colors. It means blood in your veins, sweat on your brow and an open heart. Everything starts with pain, starting with birth. Pain is the soil to growth. So you say you’re not happy? Fuck happy. Happy is Santa Claus. If you think life is about presents from others, you’ll never be happy. Life comes down to muddy trenches and doing everything you can to climb out of them. It’s about conquering mountains that you only see in photographs. It means to live dirty and fear less. Life happens when you make the choice to start being less afraid.
You want a better job? First find your passion and run toward it fast enough to break walls because they will appear very fast. You want real love? First know what it looks like. I promise it doesn’t look like a billboard or magazine cover. You want money? First, give your gifts a voice. Because money is a side-effect. It’s the result of your gifts being heard.
So…you want to live? Get dirty.