It happens around this time of year. It sneaks up on us, and before we know it, we're entirely enveloped, and there's almost nothing to be done about it. I call it The Lull. It's when everyone at school looks like a robot. We all go to classes, do the homework, eat, go to sleep, then do it again the next day. Our routines are the cuts that cause our days to bleed into each other.
To beat the lull, you must first recognize that you have a problem. Hello everyone, my name is Joe Piarulli, and I find myself leading a remarkably boring, schedule-driven, sustenance-based life. Hi, Joe.
You have to break the routine. Snap its back over your leg, and tell it you better never find it hanging out on your turf again. Then kick it in its metaphorical stomach for good measure. As it's said in "The Waterboy", you must "do what Captain Insano does to the bad guy." Become Captain Insano. It's the only way.
There is no such thing as a normal person. Everyone is abnormal. The whole world is an insane asylum. Embrace your insanity, because if you don't, you will always find yourself a victim of The Lull. If you're having one of those weeks in which you see the same people every fifteen minutes, and it seems as though your life is on instant replay, do something ridiculous. Remind yourself that you're alive.
A decent way to break the norm is to stop listening to everyone. Most people don't know what they're talking about anyway. Usually when someone says, "listen carefully," it's because they think that what they're going to tell you is important. As Jack Johnson sang, "What's important to you is not important to me." So when I say, "listen carefully," I mean be careful about the advice you take.
People give advice they aren't using, which probably means it isn't all that great. Would you give someone the pants you're wearing? No, because you're using those pants. You like those pants. You had to get those pants on your own and you don't want someone to have them. So listen carefully, that is to say, be careful about listening.
Another way to escape The Lull is to stop trying to do what you think everyone wants you to do. Stop trying to be cool. You're only as cool as you think other people think you are. Think about it.
Most importantly, amuse yourself. Use your imagination. Think about things that you usually wouldn't think about. The thoughts most worth thinking are the ones other people won't think. If you had Dr. Seuss in your head all day, would you ever get bored? Go back to the days when you used to pretend, because it's just as much fun in college as it was when you were six years old. It's fun to pretend that your room is a mini-golf course, or that everyone in DeBartolo is a zombie and you have to battle your way out before they eat your brains. Yes, people will think you're truly crazy, but that just means you're having much more fun than they are. They are saturated by the lull, but you, my friend, are not.
