Michael Banovsky

It’s important to swim against the tide, as long as you know when to a) swim with the tide, b) get to shore, or c) die.

For the last seven years, I’ve done numerous things to not make very much money. Paying bills is both the most trivial reason to do something and the most essential. I loved freelancing, being an intern, wading into the automotive journalism writing industry, expressing my opinions…

A ton of meaningful stuff has come from swimming against the tide. I have new friends. I have a new job. I’m genuinely happy. Now that I’m less stressed, I’ve been able to focus more energy on being healthy, eating less, being a snobby organics-obsessed environmental know-it-all, etc.

In this process we call life, some things drop by the wayside. I was really depressed (and not sleeping more than an hour or so a night) for six months. I needed stuff to do. So I did #carchat, overextended myself personally, added millions of friends to Facebook, took comfort in having more than 6,000 Twitter followers, ate, etc.

To become more balanced, I had to drop everything. I unfollowed everyone on Twitter. A mere 1/8 of my Facebook friends remain. I bought a bicycle. I moved back to Toronto. Started reading again. Writing. Spent too much time talking to my cat.

I no longer set goals or judge my progress in life. Not because of fear, but because of possibility. Setting life goals is really just an easy way to exclude possibilities we can’t fathom.

How many times have you heard, “I never thought I’d do that…”

Instead of swimming against the tide, I’m going to try walking along the shore. I know I won’t get to where I think I’m going—and that’s the point.