“Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances,
profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.”
– Mark Twain
I was at my Mom’s house for dinner the other night and we were having a discussion about what characteristic, above all else, resonates with people…
We both agreed that the number one most important trait is authenticity. Without authenticity, all else associated with that individual is bullshit, so personally, I have absolutely no interest in what they have to say.
Ever since I wrote The F*IT List and decided on the title, Mom and I have agreed to disagree about the significance and appropriate use of foul language…
For me, The F*IT List represented a mentality and lifestyle predicated on lived life experiences and genuine lessons taken from those experiences. All of which nurture ourselves into being the most authentic person, which we are constantly striving to become.
For my Mom (although she LOVED the book), she felt The F*IT List title and inappropriate language throughout the book was offensive to a large percentage of the population… She felt it alienated many people who would have read the book and greatly benefited from the stories and lessons shared…
Ultimately, I believe it is more important for me to speak the language I would be speaking if you and I were out on a run together or we just so happened to be sharing an adult beverage…
Why?
It’s AUTHENTIC.
If my language or message is offensive to you I understand… Yet, I would much prefer you dislike me for me, not some douche bag I am pretending to be.
If my core following is compromised because people can’t look past a few F Bombs, I am ok with that. My complete and total commitment to authenticity is imperative when it comes to communicating with the GENUINE GO HARD TRIBE that doesn’t take their feelings too personal…
All this said, the ironic thing is that I am actually turned off by too much profanity. The issue is that just like anything else that is abused in life, profane language completely loses its effectiveness when overused. Interestingly, I just watched a video of Tony Robbins the other day, and he said when he was 22 years old, he read a book called Taboo language that changed his life…
“It was written by a brilliant psychiatrist who studied Freud and he said Freud was a genius and he was messed up… He was addicted to cocaine, he thought everybody wanted their mother… But his genius was that if you try to make a change and you don’t succeed it’s because consciously you say you want one thing and unconsciously another… So he would use provocative language to disturb or jolt the person out of the surface bullshit to something deeper that was real…”
Robbins went on to say he believes the only way to make real change is by getting real with the individual and one way to strip people down to their core is by using provocative language…
F*CK YES TONY…
I knew I always liked that dude. đź‘Š
-EB