The Hulk Theory

So, the Incredible Hulk . . . we all know the story. Dr. Banner does an experiment and ends up turning himself into the Hulk.  Every time he gets angry, he turns into the Hulk. He breaks a bunch of stuff, maybe kills some people, and suddenly the authorities are hunting him. Past that point, his life becomes about the goal of finding a way to cure himself.  He has some adventures, he meets some people, but at the end of the day, he always has to go back to trying to find this cure.

In the meantime, a lot of stuff happens to him. He learns to more or less control the Hulk side of him. He becomes a superhero. He saves a lot of people's lives and in most continuums, makes some friends. And yet, in the midst of all of that, he still looks for a cure.

What happens if he finds one though?

Okay, yes, he never has to worry about turning into the Hulk again. At the same time, he is also no longer able to jump for miles and punch aliens in the head. He loses his ability to be a superhero. More over, because he's been out of the job market for many years, he's going to have trouble finding a decent job as a scientist. Sure, he could go work for some of his rich scientist friends, but it would just never really be the same.

Am I over analyzing a narrative here? Yes, I am.

At the same time, I think a lot of us waste a great deal of our lives trying to fix things instead of just adapting to them. I know I've written a lot about the power of changing your situation, but there are times when you honestly just can't, or if you can, it's going to take a lot of effort and waste a lot of energy, quite often resulting in something that wasn't worth the cost.

There is a lot of practicality in learning to work with what you have, in learning to adapt and function within the current circumstances. I'm not saying to give up on your goals. I'm only suggesting that you examine what goals you have. Ask yourself if the reaching the goal will really improve your life enough to justify the price you will pay for it.

It may also help to make you happy in the moment. When things are stressful, it's very easy to wish for a better future. "If only ___ would happen." "Why do I have to deal with _____?" People can fixate on all the things that are wrong, sometimes to the extent that even when the most tiny, minor thing happens, they will allow this to escalate into some overwhelming emotional funk. Instead of actively CHOOSING to not allow the situation to get them down, they opt for wishing for changes that are beyond their control. Kind of like if you turned into the Hulk and started allowing yourself to get upset every time you even saw the color green.

Acceptance of your circumstances can be very difficult. Sometimes accepting your reality can feel like a massive defeat. However, that sense of defeat is an opinion, it's not a fact. "I have no job and I am out of money" are facts. "This makes me a loser," is just an opinion. You can alter how you choose to view the facts of your life, quite often alter them enough to find ways to use them to your advantage.

Life has ways of messing with us. Life can lead us down these roads where our little experiments do end up turning us into be angry green ragemachines. However, even though this is what happened to us, it doesn't dictate what happens next. We can choose to spend years looking for a want to alter our circumstances, we can live in fear of getting angry, we can destroy everything around us, or sometimes, if we set our minds to it, we can be the one who saves the world from aliens.

That part, of course, is up to us.