Guardians of the Galaxy (the first one) is a movie I really, really like. Probably my favorite character is Rocket, a genetically altered, surgically enhanced, intellectually superior raccoon. Rocket had never seen a raccoon and did not know what one was, although he was a raccoon at one time.
Throughout the movie Rocket is called a raccoon, a vermin, a rodent, and other things. At one point, Rocket screams in frustration at being made fun of, “I didn’t ask to be made!”
He had not been in control of the desire and technology that brought him to life and shaped him as he was. He was intellectually superior to most of the characters in the universe he encountered, but he looked like a bandit weasel, and he was not satisfied.
He expressed what I would guess all of us have felt at one time or another; it’s not my fault.
I am the way I am.
I didn’t ask for a big nose or this color skin or big ears, they were given to me.
I didn’t ask for my circumstances. She walked out; the doctor made a mistake; I ate healthy but got cancer anyway.
I didn’t ask for this. But I’ve got it anyway.
I just can’t help it.
And most of ask, “Now, what am I supposed to do?”
But this question is depilating, because it is often asked in frustration and defeat.
What if we asked a different question? What if we asked, “What can I do?”
The truth is you can do a lot more by focusing on what you can more than what you got.
Try for one week, whenever you start to think, “What am I supposed to do now?” instead think, “What can I do?”
Leave a comment and let me know how it’s going.
And by the way, that question caused me to write a book and start this website.
Thanks for reading.