If you’re thinking, what the hell is an NPC?, let’s get that out of the way first.
NPC’s, you see, exist in video games. They’re the ones that are just walking around aimlessly. You know, minding their own business, interacting with one another, doing things that they’re programmed to do.
They’re the ones that you run over in games like Grand Theft Auto, the ones that take a lot of damage on games like Call of Duty yet still don’t ever seem to die, the Mario’s and Luigi’s that you race as you whip yourself around Rainbow Road, avoiding the dark abyss of those few seconds as you wait for Lakitu to pick you back up.
They’re the non-player characters that exist on a spectrum of pre-defined rules; scripted rules. The characters that allow you, the player, to become essentially, a god, with the ability to influence how they act towards you if you interact with them. They allow the player, you, to wreak havoc, conform, or just simply ignore them. Like an extra in any film out there, they’re there simply just to fill the world, allow for certain events to occur, and to enable the illusion that there is indeed stuff going on in the world, other than you.
A FRESH STORY
After talking with someone today that scoffed at me for expressing my reason as to why I am studying medical and health science, ridiculing and laughing at me when I explained the reason with a quote from one of my favourite lines from the novel, Rich Dad, Poor Dad: “it is better to learn than it is to earn”, it was, not surprisingly I guess, met with a snigger and an eye roll from them and the other nine people sitting near me.
The person that I was initially talking with, then went on to express their opinion that learning is merely a hindrance in the hunt for a “secure” job. And that basically, pursuing a full-time “secure” career is much more important than enjoying every aspect of life.
To me, the thought of pursuing the dollar being greater than the search for knowledge, experiences, life, is what seems like the error in this reality. The ideology that the education system brought about in the 1830s, with its mentality of Child A must complete school, complete university, lock in a full-time career, and be programmed to complete tasks 1, 2 and 3 (forever), is nothing short of a very limited outlook on life.
I mean, don’t ever consider the fact that we have the internet and more opportunity for a new way of life than ever before. No sirree. And we certainly don’t have people in this world living their lives hosting a podcast from their living room that get paid thousands of dollars per episode; or other people that film 5-minute videos where they speak their mind on trending topics for YouTube that are on well more than you would ever think; or people that travel the world and blog, that fund their journey through their website; or even people that think of an idea, like a website that allows people to connect, stalk, and like statuses, and their whole life is changed.
Don’t ever think that. Stick to the NPC way of life. The comfortable way of life. The easier way. The expected way.
But, hold up, this is not me saying that that style of life is “wrong”, per se, or even that it shouldn’t be pursued. But rather, that the programmed and “ideal” way of life is most certainly not the only way to go about this crazy thing we call life.
This is also not me saying that everyone is capable of the above stories (which they probably are if they worked towards them), but merely that the abundance of opportunity out there, does not, at all, in anyway, enable an apple pie life to be the sole course for a life. For fulfillment or for enjoyment.
Take my mum, for example. In her (early) 50’s and she has just started selling an exclusive line of baby clothes through an Instagram account to people all over the world including Germany, Switzerland, and New Zealand. All in her spare time, too!
So don’t tell me or think that life is a set course. That life is there just to be completed any and which way that society has moulded us into thinking.
FREE YOUR MIND
Let me challenge and ask you: How long has it been since you’ve tried something out of the ordinary? You know, something outside your comfort zone? How long has it been since you’ve done something that made your stomach just that little bit queasy? Something that made you look back on and think “holy shit, did I just do that!”?
Look, I’m not saying to just not show up at work tomorrow, or head to the airport right now and book a spontaneous flight to Switzerland (you should, if you can, however), but I’m saying; why not try something different?
What do you have to lose?
SOME CHALLENGES
If you are in fact interested in breaking out of the NPC lifestyle and try out something just that little bit different:
1. Have an actual conversation with a stranger.
2. Only ask people how they are going if you actually want to know.
3. In your next conversation with someone, avoid talking over the top of them. Instead, listen. Try to understand them. And don’t sit there waiting for a moment just so you can voice your opinion.
4. Have a day off from scrolling that newsfeed.
5. On your next “day off” (or tonight) instead of watching TV, read a book.
6. Don’t hit the mall “just for something to do”.
7. Call someone you haven’t talked to in over a year.
8. Try that food the next time it’s in front of you that you always have never been able to eat.
Why not go against the system, break the monotony of the NPC life, pull your perspective into third person the next time you walk through a crowded place, and live each day, not like it’s your last, but to its fullest?
Why not take the red pill?