Ashley Wylde: Follow All Directions Carefully

Wake up in the morning and cover yourself up. Something crisp. Something professional. Not just the clothes, either, you can’t forget to cover up the way you’ve been feeling in case you inconveniently inconvenience someone else with your discontent; it’s a virus. You don’t get to ruin someone else’s day. Cover up your weaknesses, too, because they prey on the weak, and cover up your insecurities and your fears. You are rock. You had better be a rock. Cover up your tattoos and your piercings and cover the cross hanging from your neck because it’s no use being you if being you is different and we all know being different leads to unhappiness. If you have any confidence, cover it up, or you might make them start to feel small, and if you don’t have any confidence, cover that up because pathetic is worse than different and different is pretty bad. Walk out the door and keep your eyes down. Keep your eyes on the road, keep your eyes on the prize, keep your eyes on your own paper, keep them just about anywhere other than where they go on their own. It’s no use using your eyes if they single you out. Indent your paragraphs, wear black socks, turn out the lights to save money on your electric bill. Are you tired yet? Build your credit score, build your resume, build your pain tolerance, tolerate the serious injustices you are surrounded by, surround yourself with positivity, stay positive, stay healthy, stay home on the weekends and get plenty of sleep, sleep regularly, regulate your spending, spend more time working, work harder, work faster, work more work more work more. If you aren’t tired you aren’t working, if you are tired, keep working. Buy a house, procreate, start a college fund, pay your taxes, serve your church, vote for the president, keep your space clean, visit your brother, bury your grandmother. Don’t stop to cry. You wouldn’t want anyone to accuse you of losing sight of your priorities. Go to work. Save money. Provide for your family. Spend more time with your family. Spend more time at work. Spend less money. Save more money. Provide for your family. Are you tired? Save more money. Provide for your family. Save for your family. Are you tired? Spend more time working. Spend more time with your family. Are you tired? This is your life.
This is your life.
Don’t blink,
you might
miss
it.