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Life after 30 is as dull as it gets if you’ve had your share of experiences, left your past behind, and settled in a small town where nothing ever happens. At that point, you either start chasing very expensive rainbows or learn to enjoy the same simple pleasures over and over again. Kraków is a perfect place for the latter.
By now, I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said I know Kraków better than my hometown. Sure, 6 years is a lot less than 26, but that doesn’t matter much when a city really wants you to explore it. So I roam the same streets over and over again — and I still enjoy it.
Whenever there’s a guy on the street taking a photo, I always look to see what he’s pointing his camera at. And when I’m that guy, other people do the same. We all expect to see something special — but usually, it’s the same old shit, just a different angle.
When you’re young, everything seems fresh and chasing novelty is easy. But then you realize most things are already claimed. At that point, you either start inventing new shit or come to terms with the boring reality and try to find your own angle.
The point is, since we can’t have new shit every day, the choice is either to grow indifferent, or to stay persistent enough to notice when reality shifts, glitches, or simply shows itself in a different light. Not having too many expectations helps, too.
Sometimes I think you actually have to do the same shit over and over again to come up with something different. A first-time experience might feel exciting, but you’ve got to go through a few rounds and toss out a lot of mediocre shit before you get there.
The burning question is if it’s possible to do the same shit over and over again without getting bored. But boredom is not necessarily bad. It pushes you to look at stuff from more than just one angle and explore how things relate — to each other and to you.
While stepping outside the circle into the unknown every now and then definitely helps, you’ve really got to learn how to find excitement in the seemingly boring stuff that surrounds you 24/7. It basically comes down to less looking for, and more looking into.
Sometimes you can go further and impose artificial limits on top of the natural ones — just to test the boundaries. Like trying to fit every paragraph of your post into three lines, or shooting with a fixed-lens camera. You’ll see it’s all the same, but different.
And you may say “fuck you”, “get a real job” or “try it when you have kids” — and you’ll have a point. But I’ll dismiss it anyway, because I neither take it seriously, nor consider it original, nor expect it to lead anywhere. What matters is, I had fun writing.
