Return of the metaphor..

Twice in one week the parable of the drowning man surfaced. I tell the joke at parties sometimes but this week it surfaced twice in two different situations. For you who haven't heard the short version is:

There is a man in the ocean and he's about to drown.
He calls out to God to save him.
A man in a rowboat comes along and offers to save him
The man declines saying 'God will save me'
The man thinks this is strange but rows away.

A motorboat comes by--same thing
an ocean liner comes along----same thing
The man finally drowns, and goes to heaven.
He has the nerve to ask God why he didn't save him.
God points out that he sent three boats.

The jist is that we have our idea how things will work out, and then there's the opportunities that we squander and then end up 'drowning' in our own shit.

Don't get me wrong, the drowning man is clearly an idiot. The idea that he 'thinks God is going to save him' makes Christians look like the definition of idiot. I would definitely crawl my ass in a rowboat and call it a day. I would hope I would think that I could see help when I needed it. As far as life and death situations, drowning happens a lot more slowly, and far less urgency that needing a boat to pull us out of the ocean.

Because of this life change I am facing this parable rang in my ears a little harder than it usually would. For instance I want to start my own company. I think 'Who the hell do you think you are? You just graduated a few months ago.'  But I have been planning it for 20 years. It's not something I came up with over night. I thought I would look for a company to work for. I found one that was hiring, and I got really nervous because I wanted it so bad. I found out today they hired someone, and never even invited me for an interview. My feeling is 'It's because I need to crush them. They are the competition.' If I went to work for them that would me more time that I wouldn't be developing my brand.  It's scary but it seems like all the signs are pointing to me starting my company. It still seems crazy but I have been waiting half my life to start my brand. I feel like now is the time. Also I feel like do I really think I can get away with that? I don't have.....so many things, how the HELL am I going to start a fashion brand? But then again you hear this sort of thing all the time when people who are crazy successful sit down to interview about how they got where they were. I always reflect back on Marc Ecko in his garage with spray cans making shirts for his friends, then doing graffiti on women's nails for them. He had to start somewhere. I need to start somewhere too.