Be More Like Blue Cheese

I love blue cheese.

That mouldy, funky, pungent smell smacks me in the face when I smell it and the creamy, earthy, luxurious flavour wakes up my tastebuds when I eat it.

I truly do love blue cheese and I know some of you will agree with me.

I also know that many of you violently disagree with me.

I can’t think of anyone who is indifferent to blue cheese. You either love it or you hate it with a passion. It makes you gag or you have dreams about blue cheese pizza.

That’s exactly why you need to be more like blue cheese in your life.

A guy called Derek Sivers wrote a book called Hell Yeah or No and I am in love with this basic concept. Here’s the short version from his original blog post:

“If you’re not saying “HELL YEAH!” about something, say “no”.”

Like blue cheese; “Hell Yeah!” or “No”.

I strive for this level of certainty with everything in my life (except what to order for takeout or what to watch on Netflix, obviously). My friends and family, my business acquaintances and partners, my weekend activities, books I read, shows I watch and everything in between. HELL YEAH or no.

Everyone in my life knows where they stand with me. We’re either friends or we’re not. You like me or you don’t. I spend time with you or I don’t. We talk often or we don’t. There is no ambiguity. Like blue cheese.

Seeking bland is daft.

Hunting for the middle-ground is a massive mistake.

I am not suggesting that if you aren’t stupidly successful or wealthy that you have failed and found the perilous middle, no. I am suggesting that we must always have strong opinions, we must always try to be motivated and moved by the things that we are doing.

Of course, there are parts of life that are never going to be hedonistic like taking a shit or a shower. But why hang around with people who bore you? Why work on things that don’t inspire you? Why live with people who make you worse?

If you love blue cheese, eat it. If you don’t then find the cheese that you do love and eat it.

Where do you stand on blue cheese? Where do you think you stand in life? Middle-ground?

Do plan on moving away from the middle?

Facebook makes me feel invisible

This is not a blog post about Facebook although Facebook is involved. This is a blog post about choices and the ramifications of the choices I have made.Let me begin at the start where all starts begin. I went to a single primary school from grade 1 to standard 3. I left in standard 3 for a girl - a friend - who wanted to leave my school. I went with her. I packed up my shit and left never to return to that school ever again.Yesterday I was perusing my minifeed on Facebook when I noticed some message about someone I used to know at my first primary school before I left. In fact, I didn't just know this girl, I was besotted with her back in the day and was very good friends with her.I started checking out some photos of hers from when we were in standards 2, 3, 4 and 5.I was invisible.I didn't feature in a single photo from that time. Hell, I was probably the guy taking some of the photos at that stage. But not a single photo was I a part of. This in some sense made me feel invisible. I felt as if, to these people, I never existed because I wasn't in recorded memory, Facebook or otherwise.This really made me wonder about my choices and decisions and how I have consistently been looking forward and not noticing who is looking at me and wondering where I went. This has become a trend in my life - this feels awfully honest - as I went from primary school to primary school, high school to Rhodes to my own company to a new job. At every choice I have left people behind.What happened to those people? What happened to me? And I wonder what life would be like if I had chosen to stay at my first primary school until my last year instead of cutting my time with those people short.