Monkeys

Cognitive Dissonance and how it surfaces in the hobby “At least my take on it anyway”

Life happens fast, especially when it consists of an egregious amount of unsolicited bullshit.

Now that I have your attention, let us get to the topic at hand, shall we? I am a civilian now, starting in my 40’s, and remarried. That alone is a lot of big transitions to pack into a lifetime let alone, 36 months! But I digress, (back to the topic Steve, why am I reading this again? Your point please). I will start with a confession, nothing groundbreaking or profound, really more of a confirmation of sorts, I have a substance abuse problem. No biggie right? Let me explain; I am addicted to feeling good, and as a result of that, anything or anyone that makes me feel good I tend to become dependent on that thing. This of course has led to a lot of toxic relationships, poor financial decisions, and a plethora of less than pleasant human interactions. And then of course, there are the Plants, Fish, Animals, and other obsessions that I periodically juggle depending on how much of a “fix” they give me at any perspective point in time. This, of course, is 1000% dependent on the convenience, and how cheap it is to get started.( If I am going to be honest I might as well be honest. Money is probably the largest controlling factor in this whole scheme, but I will stay on track). Often I have found myself inundated with too many plants, animals, aquariums, girlfriends etc. lol.. Sorry hun. This usually manifests itself in a shitload of unfinished projects, neglected responsibility, and the worst of them all DEAD SHIT! That serves as its own source of anxiety and depression, followed by a period of F this, culminating with looking for something new. WASH, RINSE, REPEAT. Social media has made it evident to me that I am not the only person that experiences what we shall deem a “phenomenon” where seemingly good people, hoard, for a lack of a better way to say it “stuff”, or engage in behaviors that are unbeneficial. You should be triggered now, and that is perfectly fine. I like to observe patterns in things, especially nature as you all should know by now from previous works. One of the patterns that I am seeing develop that has my interest for the moment, is the pattern of “Self-Coddling”. We lavish ourselves in any way possible, to achieve the maximum amount of comfort possible at all times. Cruising instagram for that dopamine rush, going to the store to “just look” then leaving with a boatload, you get the picture. All of these are examples of self-coddling, lavishing oneself, in order to “feel Good”. The last time I was in the Dominican Republic, I was in the bush a lot. Many of those times, either because of logistics, or simply because I forgot to do so, I was unmedicated, and guess what, no anxiety, no depression, hell I even forgot to drink water! My point is simple, nature is medicine and we belong outside. As I expose myself to idiots on tik-tok who don’t know glass cleaner cleans glass, and dumbasses buying $15,000 propagations off of Etsy and Ebay only to kill them in hours, (YES I SAID HOURS!) oh and those clowns who like to live in the woods and make fire with sticks for fun. I had yet another epiphany! People are doing all this silly shit because we are living in unnatural times. Reality has been so distorted in the past 30 years, that we have even begun to distort nature as well. Naturally this phenomenon has entered the Aquarium Hobby, and depending on who you ask, can be perceived as good or bad. For example, when I was indoctrinated in society, I was taught that you should not be lazy, greedy, or dishonest. That if you start something, finish it, and if you have something of value that you take care of it. Having a metric “fuckton” of neglected fish tanks in your mom’s basement does not make you a collector, and it damn sure ain't a FISH ROOM! No matter how many people on social media are doing it. Cognitive Dissonance my friends Cognitive Dissonance. In all transparency, I have done “things” in some capacity before in the past. But we learn from our mistakes right? As a business owner, A father, A hobbyist, and a Veteran of the US Armed Forces, I would be remiss if I did not address this matter, in my own words ,on my own platform. I do not want any of that blood on my hands, “figuratively speaking of course”. With that being said the intent is to have a mature discussion, and to look for an actionable plan to a feasible solution. I do believe that humanity acutely is suffering from a form of Cognitive Dissonance to varied degrees depending on the circumstances. The first step is acknowledgement, and in my opinion I believe that is going to take honesty. We are living in some dishonest times, and that is no biggie in the grand scheme of things. What I find particularly alarming is how common it is for people to lie to themselves, then use semantics and manipulation to get others to go along with the lie, no matter how detrimental doing so may be. Some things just don’t change no matter how much we want them to, or how masterfully we spin words to smokescreen our bullshit in an attempt to get other people to believe it. Cognitive Dissonance is when you see some bullshit and because you don't want to be canceled, or just fucked with in General, you go along with what you see tweaking the lens on your prism ever so slightly, to keep the Illusion exactly what it is, A Godamned Illusion. Birds don’t have hair and Puppies cannot have Kittens, but I am sure some jackass will make a movement saying that they should, and systematically bully the shit out of anyone who opposes it. This of course, whilst preaching inclusivity and fairness for all, GTFOH. It’s a new year in 2022. New scenes but the same show. I recognize the Cognitive Dissonance, its painfully apparent in today’s times and sometimes its so appalling and blatant that it is comical in a sad way. Nonetheless we have to soldier on regardless of what life throws our way, I am beginning to realize that love and honesty seem to be the best defense against the aforementioned phenomenon. The onus is on the individual and unfortunately, because of this coddling nonsense curated by society, no one is accountable to themselves or anyone else. This in turn opens the floodgates for the myriad of bullshit that we face on a daily basis. If you would have told me half of the shit that is socially acceptable today 20 years ago I would have gotten a vasectomy No BS. I will start with myself, As I do not believe in telling someone else to clean their house, when my own is filthy, And I would advise you all to do the same and follow suit. Don’t be a monkey people.

Until next time,

Stay classy and keep “Tankin”.

Steve

Warrior Planted Tanks