Life might just be a box of chocolates after all

Standing outside on wet grass, watching the sunrise coming over the hills. The bluegum trees and occasional bird are the only things blocking it. This is when I know there is a God. You can feel the morning chill blow over your bare shoulders but the cigarette smoke coming out of your lungs is warmth enough for the moment. A look around and you see the rustic farmhouse, the dogs barely awake on the verandah and the rusted tin roof over their heads. It almost seems as if there needs to be some sort of leit motif, something out of “Goodbye Mr Chips”, to accompany the moment. It’s a cliché, and if you know me you’d know how much I despise clichés, but it’s this very moment that got me realising just how much of a cliché life is.

Presumably a cliché is used so often that it becomes worn-out and hackneyed, almost redundant in a way. Every dog has his day and will be able to see the silver lining at least once in a blue moon sort of thing. Something becomes so familiar that it loses all meaning; it loses all significance. As writers we are discouraged from using the cliché. In my mind though, that in itself has become cliché because everybody trying to write something new and mindboggling has to search their souls and wrack their brains for a new, innovative and untainted approach to say what they want to say, where they could have said it in a much easier way. People become tired of it, I’ve become tired of it. Even now I am guilty of going over the last two paragraphs and making changes to make things sound better. The process of avoiding clichés has become something that annoys people rather than inspiring them to think differently. Is that not cliché?

The more I think about it, the more I realise: “But that’s life, isn’t it?” What everyday task do you do that hasn’t become routine? Everybody has routine, whether they want to admit it or not. Even the procedure of challenging routine has become routine in a sense because so many people are trying to do it nowadays. “Get out of that comfort zone, challenge yourself.” Is cliché not just the verbal version of routine? But with routine also comes solace, safety, security, relief, comfort: all things that you would think people would want for their lives, especially in the (and here comes the cliché) hectic, stressful and violent world we live in. Is it possible that the very thing that people are trying to rid their lives of is the very thing that can actually bring them zen?

Let’s look at the pros and cons of the cliché (yes, I did it again). Cliché serves as relief for those that can’t actually think of anything better to say. It does bring comfort, a form of rest. It allows the mind to relax (now I could say that relaxation allows one to wash out the mind and refresh one’s well-being, but that would just be cliché). Sometimes, even, there is no better way to say something than to cliché it. However, today’s society is looking for new approaches and solutions to the challenges it is facing and cliché allows me to fall back on something that might not actually solve the problem, but gets the work off of my back. In that way it could be argued that cliché breeds idleness, even a state of lethargy.

But, and there are always buts, if you actually sit back and think about it, how is your life different from a cliché? Does it not sometimes annoy you that you always end up doing the same things, falling into the same routine, hanging out with the same people, making the same mistakes? I think I have already argued that this is the real-life equivalent of cliché. I can assure you that this same problem could be found in many other people’s lives too. But (I told you there were buts), how many times have you thought to yourself “this sort of stuff belongs in a movie or a book”? It’s not only the bad times that are clichéd, but the good times times too. The sunsets, the wet grass, rustic farm-style moments, the times enjoying a drink and conversation with friends around a table (be it kitchen or bar): all cliché in their own ways, if you ask me.

My argument? Assess life and I’m sure you will discover exactly how clichéd it is. But does this not work for you? Sometimes we try so hard to find different and new approaches to a problem, or even life, that we forget that most times the best approaches are the ones that come naturally. I know my argument could be percieved as pretty weak, but I’m the clichéd writer: it’s four in the morning, I couldn’t sleep, I’m pumped on coffee and nicotine, but at the same time I’m still tired so my brain might not be working as well as I think it might. I am however asking you to give it a try. Give cliché a try. I’m not saying fall back on the easy life, because we all know life ain’t easy, but sometimes try give your first instincts a chance. The conscience has this amazing ability to be right most of the time. I believe that clichés are cliché for a reason: they usually work. Go over what you’ve just read, this entire entry, and count the number of clichés I’ve used, I challenge you to give me a better way to bring my thoughts across. But don’t get yourself too worked up on it, sometimes you just have to go with the flow, roll with the punches, climb on the bandwagon, and you’ll probably discover that what you were looking for was right under your nose all along.