Contradiction

to be yourself choosing the best mix of positive and negative is all you can do.

Photograph by Alexandra Dementyeva on Unsplash

Have you noticed that most self-help content rarely addresses situations; instead, only topics and too much of the genre sound the same? It’s geared toward a universal audience, and the advice espouses thought and behavioral rules to supposed universal truths about people in general…it’s quite a stretch of imagination, and most of it bounces off me, which is a drag when I’m looking for a hand.

I presumed to query, perhaps beseech
a lesson of self-help values from
repertoires of ploys I would teach.

I’d ask which is the worse;
the pain of hard work,
or the regretful pain of having pursued the inverse?

Without delay, I supposed
all would choose the pain of the latter and
the worse case would be closed.

But then, a thought won
to ask on behalf of perhaps
a convicted criminal or a nun.

Is the choice inherent?
Are varied shades of grey always gray,
or simply black or white when not transparent?

So which is the worse;
the pain of hard work,
or the regretful pain of having pursued the inverse?

All singly must work through
regrets of pain and of gain to be yourself;
choosing a mix of both is all you can do.

Photo by Alice Yamamura on Unsplash