Why Its A Great Time To Be Alive

I am not the kind of person that likes to walk around making grand statements. Well, I don’t like making grand statements that I don’t believe. So trust me when I say that I wouldn’t have made a title like this (see above) if there wasn’t some real logic on why I believe that this is true.

One of the things that I believe has slowed me down in life are gatekeepers. Gatekeepers are the people, places or things that have to validate whatever it is that you are offering, so that you can get access to whatever it is that you are wanting. They require a lot from a person, and often occupy a lot of time. This could be anything…from getting into the college you want (admissions gatekeepers), to finding the spouse that you want (social gatekeepers), etc. But there is something that we have now that we didn’t have in the past.

We have technology.

And that changes everything. I don’t mean this in, I like to code so I hope that you will learn too so that you too can change the world (I do feel this way, but this isn’t that post). I mean, that whatever you want to do, in many cases, technology can open the door, so that you can just do it. No gatekeeper needed. Lately, I find myself telling people this over and over again in different ways. For some reason, it seems that they can’t hear what I am trying to say. But its real. Let me give an example.

I recently watched the movie Begin Again. This is a lovely, I am home on a Saturday afternoon, and I just want to be lazy kind of movie. Its a movie about a lot of things, but it focused on a particular singer-songwriter who was trying to get a record deal. When the record company passed on her, she made the album herself. She could do that cause the technology exists and is available. This wasn’t the case 10 or 20 years ago. But it is a reality now.

My hope is that people remember that the world that we live in now is changing so quickly. If you watch the news they will convince you that everything is horrible. I don’t believe that. Some changes are subtle, and striking, and poised to give you as an individual a voice. You, the individual, has a chance to do the things that you believe in. If you want to. If you try to. These are the reasons that wars are waged and that new countries are built. This is now available to anyone with a computer, imagination, and a decent internet connect. No gatekeepers necessary.

Isn’t that a great reason to be alive?