Nature is the only truth – Rick Rubin.
We’re in an unprecedented bull market – in vice addiction.
Confusing what’s easy to count and what’s essential is reaching epidemic proportions. Redefining wealth is the key to finding an antidote to the scourge of our time.
Ryan Holiday provides a template. It’s not a lack of money that we should be pursuing, but a lack of angst, a lack of need, a lack of resentment, and a lack of insecurity. That’s the simple truth of what genuine wealth is.
The definition of wealth is fluid. Wisdom, time, health, connections, and experiences are priceless assets. Defining net worth by how much you give rather than take is the formula for a formidable balance sheet.
What’s the solution to our swamp of despair?
Radical surgery using a straight-edge blade.
Let’s journey back to 1981.
Hard Core punk exploded like a thrash grenade. Punk provided a release for teen angst and anger. Things began spinning out of control. Rampant drinking and drug abuse turned Punk Clubs into orgies of bloody mayhem. Nazi Punks and White Supremacists infiltrated the mosh pit and used it as a weapon to bludgeon kids with their twisted beliefs.
The chaos pleaded for a reversion to the mean. A Washington D.C. Punk band called Minor Threat changed everything. Hope and freedom replaced negativity. The Straight Edge movement was born.
Their 45-second blistering track Straight Edge became an underground sensation. The rejection of rampant debauchery was punk in its purest extreme form.
I’ve got straight Edge
I’m a person just like you
But I’ve got better things to do
Then sit around and smoke dope
Because I know that I can cope
Laugh at the thought of eating ludes
laugh at the thought of sniffing glue
always gonna keep in touch
Never want to use a crutch
I’ve got straight Edge
Minor Threat made it cool to say Drugs and alcohol poison the body and mind. Distracted minds created cannon fodder for the corporate overlords’ mind manipulations. Booze and illegal drugs made indoctrination a certainty.
Straight Edge solved the problem. A clear head is a remedy for B.S. and exploitation. Being sober and drug-free gave kids an edge more potent than an Ivy League degree.
In 1983, I formed my Straight Edge connection. Raphael was a menacing-looking skinhead from Peru whom I met at Boston University. We had an odd relationship. He spoke little English, and I scant Spanish. We bonded over hardcore. One day he started preaching about a new world punk order liberated from alcohol, drugs, and racism. From what I could understand, it entailed unbounded pureness – Straight Edge. I was shocked this scary-looking Dude was going off like some Puritan from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. To this day, I regret not signing up with Raphael and his merry little band of skate punks.
The siren song of college partying was a teenage version of kryptonite.
Straight Edge meant going to clubs with a black magic marker inscribed or a tattoo of a black X on your hand. The same way club owners marked the hands of patrons too young to drink. Who would’ve thought Straight Edge would serve as the predecessor to Veganism? Many Vegans adopt a similiar XVX for their social media profiles.
We need more Straight Edge. It’s not being judgemental. That’s just trading one vice for another.
We all have demons and are children of varying degrees of trauma. It’s how we embrace our pain that matters. Many are making the wrong choice. Pain isn’t vanquished with more pain. A clear vision of the world is the ultimate Edge.
Many “wealthy” people are choosing to cope with their demons by doing the following:
Binge drinking like a college freshman
Vaping and consuming edibles to take the Edge off.
Eating inflammatory fatty and sugar-drenched empty calorie foods in copious quantities.
Swallowing pills as a first defense instead of considering a lifestyle change.
Choosing to live in the virtual world instead of the present moment.
Defining worth by money or followers.
Competing with neighbor’s possessions instead of yourself.
Binge-watching instead of spending time in nature and absorbing all of its benefits.
Growing your waistline at a rate double inflation.
Drugging yourself with anti-depressants to get through the day and sleeping pills to make it through the night.
Accepting Western Medicine diagnosis as gospel from apple-shaped tooth-picked armed M.D.s while ignoring timeless health secrets from the East.
Being unable to view a sporting event without placing a wager on your gambling app.
Channeling disillusionment into the hands of false political prophets and financial charlatans
Turning shopping into your prime hobby.
Toiling punishing hours and neglecting loved ones for money you don’t need
Wasting precious time on social media arguing with strangers about topics neither of you knows about.
Lacking the ability or courage to define enough.
Working for companies with values opposed to your own.
We’re all addicted to something; make yours the healthy variety. Resolving to fight my demons with other weapons changed everything. It’s a daily struggle, but my worldview transformed by incorporating these habits into my lifestyle:
- Copius Daily Movement
- Proper Sleep
- Nutrient Dense Eating and Alcohol-free drinking
- Mediation
- Breathe Work
- Nature Exposure
- Tranformative Non-Digital books
- Sunlight
- Cold Therapy
- Positive Human Connections
- Intermittent Fasting
All of these items are inexpensive and accessible to all.
It’s hard, and the withdrawal process is a bitch. Anything worthwhile stings at first. Consistency breaks the chains of vice addiction. As the old saying goes: Rivers don’t cut through rock because they’re powerful; they cut through rock because they’re persistent.
Electing the aisle of vice addiction is slow suicide. We possess one body and one mind. Deep-pocketed vice producers’ business model is taking possession of Big Pharma, and companies like CVS, AB InBev, Altria, McDonald’s, Facebook, Instagram, Coca-Cola, Tiktok, and Draft Kings unleash billions keeping us fat, depressed, addicted, sedentary, passive, isolated and distracted. Our bodies and souls are deliberately targeted with toxins to make a select few richer. The pandemic threw kerosene onto the already raging inferno of vice dependence.
I wish moderation works. The dark forces behind these addictive products have game planned that strategy. Once you indulge, it’s almost impossible to stop, and it’s starting younger than ever.
Sharpen your Straight Edge and slash toxic addictions from your life -today.
Real wealth isn’t inherited. It’s manufactured with a deliberate plan.
Every choice matters. Start by living clean.
You don’t need to shave your head or get punched in a Mosh Pit to find your Straight Edge.
