Do you get the feeling that life is a series of circus performances?
Much of human behavior is about the care and feeding of the Ego. To achieve the nirvana of self-esteem, folks vie for attention, sometimes love, and sometimes power and money. To them, altruism is a word in the dictionary and rarely practiced.
They expect a return on any accidental good deeds performed. After all, there is no profit or benefit to the self if you focus on others instead of yourself. At least, that is what their actions seem to demonstrate.
Attention-seekers are restless, rarely satisfied with their gains. And like the circus, they tend to keep moving from person to person, searching to fill that insatiable maw of need to reach the elusive feeling of contentment, a sense of satisfaction for achievement. They always want more.
Of course, the preceding does not preclude the existence of good people. But they are often shoved into the background by the attention-seeking and less benevolent faux good guys.
Please allow us to share a few examples of these insatiable beings.
At the pinnacle of attention-seekers are politicians. They will say, do, and promise anything and everything to get your vote. Aside from the fact that politicians often prove to be masters of deceit, they also practice selective amnesia.
In a time when everything politicians say or do can be and often is caught on camera. That recorded moment never disappears. And yet, when something unfortunate pops up from a politician’s past, they will stand before the cameras and deny its veracity.
The same is true for anyone of us. What you post or text or Instagram will be there to haunt you forever. And as we so often hear, those posts can affect future jobs, relationships, and even a relationship’s breakup. Unfortunately, discretion is an unknown word in today’s vernacular.
Many of us have known attention-seekers. To the unblinkered eye, they appear to care about everyone while they dig into your business. Remember, the culprits appear among both genders.
Consider three siblings, two males, and a female. They grew up in a house filled with love from one parent and a miserly doling out of approval and affection from the other.
This writer met the family many years ago. And over the years, we continued to stay in touch on a peripheral level. Please note their story is one-sided, from this observer’s perspective alone.
Both males repeatedly tried to gain the miserly parent’s approval and, we suspect, perceived lack of affection from that source. While both males were smart, their paths varied. One boy took to acting out, sometimes in outrageous ways, particularly during those teenage years. The other excelled in school.
When their attempts did not bear the fruit they desired, the first moved through life, making some questionable choices. The second went the way of seeking what he needed from females he met. Over the years, he of the drip-dry tux married several women. And when he did not find the love, attention, or whatever murky approval he desired from life or a wife, he divorced her and moved on to another.
Intellectually, both males knew, happiness comes from within once we find peace in ourselves. But our decisions and actions have unintended consequences. One of them discovered these truths, but the other did not.
Their sister, at times, has been irrational and destructive in her search for attention and approval. And like politicians, if she must stretch the fabric of truth to attain her goal, she does so without remorse. Her reality is a circus for those around her. Some people notice this behavior and back away, while others swallow her version of reality.
People and events cause chaos, upsetting us to the detriment of our health and even our ability to sleep. We must decide to either wallow in misery or toss off the ringmaster’s cloak and say, “Not my circus” and enjoy life.