AverageAspirations

To do as a distraction, or to do in order to achieve.  These seemingly different reasons for action, though at their core represent polar opposite outlooks on life, end up merging in my case into the same end result.  Do I spray paint the coffee table in order to escape my more prevalent duties of making an appearance at the gym or revamping my resume? Or do I turn a blind eye to the shabby chic appearance of my apartment (emphasis on shabby) and stare at my computer screen for a few hours trying to make a sales associate description sound inspiring and impressive? Either way, I will be accomplishing something.  And each respective accomplishment has the ability to add up in some form or another, to an achievement.  The clear definitive here is not what you choose to do, but why you choose to do it.  What is more important to me, right now, in my state of post-4th of July weekend gluttony? The coffee table or the resume?  My home or my job status? Myself, or an extension of?  In all honesty I cannot freely choose.  I can tell you what my father would deem top priority, what my neighbor would suggest (the coffee table has been occupying the backyard, half spray painted, for a couple weeks now), and even what the little puppy would prefer, considering the art store for the paint is conveniently on the way to the puppy park.  As I go through each mundane pro and con concerning the respective courses of action on today's agenda, I become sidetracked with pictures from last week's happy hour for the unemployed drinking marathon.  Clearly, the importance of these tasks is miniscule, it really does not get more average than this.  But the one thing that gets me going, that forever holds motivation for anyone not suffering from depression, a severe phobia, or mono-is the thought that no matter the reason for doing, for accomplishing, for achieving, without trying there will always be a "what if?"  Regret may not seem like a positive push to get off the couch (I sit at the table, there is no television anyway), but when coupled with the guilt of sheer laziness it breeds apathy and unfulfillment.  And even for an average New Yorker sans responsibilities beyond her own self-involved life, unfulfillment does not, and should never, hold a place in the heart of any  soul with even the smallest aspiration.  Even if that is spray painting a coffee table.  So I will paint-maybe as a distraction, maybe as a slightly image-conscious creative-type in an apartment that needs a coffee table, or maybe because I'm noticing a lack of checks next to the to-do list.  Whichever reason I choose to justify my action, I know that once I am finished I will feel accomplishment, and contribute to an achievement I might not have even realized I had.