In life there’s a saying that goes around that “everything is seasonal”, that “people and places in life come and go”. Generally speaking, I can not only agree but I can also relate.

Friends change with different levels of schooling or different jobs that we have, and our bodies are only conditional to what work we put in to maintain them at a given period of our lives. But what sticks around? I find that for better or for worse, the things and people in life that tend to stick around in our lives we can refer to as The Parallel.

The Parallel + Anti-Parallel

To define The Parallel, let’s say that it is everything that aligns with your life exactly, for better or for worse. This can be people such as your best friends, romantic partners, and in some cases your family: they are all on board with your vision and what you’re looking to accomplish, affirming you and being there for you when you need them to be.

Parallels don’t have to be people, but instead they can be things or even habits. Going to the gym promote better physical and mental health, having a detailed calendar allows you to manage your time more effectively, setting time to study or learn a skill will grow into a more prosperous place in your schooling or job.

God, by definition, is always in parallel with your goals for the better. God is the highest possible ideal, and ambitious people will always look to God to see just how far they need to reach.

I mentioned that parallels can be for better or for worse, and the parallels that are for the worse are often easily recognized as being significantly resistant to your goals. For many this may be disapproving parents, but for some that may be legal opposition. These are forces that action must be taken against in order to remove them from your path.

The positive parallels are the types of things are what we should be looking to surround ourselves with, however the more reflection a given person does, there’s a good chance that a few people or things in their life have many anti-parallels in their life.

The Anti-Parallels in our life, by definition is everything that doesn’t align with your life. The worst of the anti-parallels are The Perpendicular, which is everything that is stopping what you have aligned for your life.

The best way for me to describe the Perpendiculars in life is to identify them as distractions. Addictions fall into this category too, something that you know by itself isn’t horrible for you but specifically in your life it has been an enormous hurdle to jump over. These, clearly, you want to avoid.

Nuance (The In-Between)

Nuances obviously exist between the binary options of Parallel and Perpendicular. If you don’t believe nuances exist in life, I would love to hear an argument for how the sky or the ground is directly in alignment or direct opposition with your path.

My favorite nuance to use as an example is social media. Is it in alignment with your life or a stopping force? The answer is it is what you make it. It will likely never be a permanent parallel for any given person, however it is something that can be actively and intentionally incorporated into one’s life to make it beneficial.

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I hope that you can use these definitions as a guide to better understand your own life.

Take care of yourself and someone else,

-brandon.