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Prose of a Con

Poetry and Prose by Russell Wardlow

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Make it Your Own

April 24, 2020 by Russell Wardlow Leave a Comment

I don’t read books front to back, well not nonfiction. I’m so against conformity to a point because mostly my life has been stereotyped and experienced so differently, that I figure why try to be like the very people and systems that look at me like I’m different while pressuring me to acknowledge accept and succumb to that difference and fall in line.

It doesn’t have to make sense to others, it suits me. Often we pick up so much of someone else’s philosophies and anecdotes, not giving our own mind enough credit to figure more out for ourselves, that we simply start living our life thru someone else’s lens and mind just because they have inherited certain acclaim and authority that we deem worthy of following. But why follow a leader step for step? If you seek to become a chef, it’s not by copying prior chef’s recipes to the tee, you mix a lot of you with a little of them as a base starting point. Applying your new knowledge to your own pallet, or experience in this example.

I like creating my own way, sometimes I don’t just build my theories from the ground up because I haven’t experienced every part of life, but often something I read triggers an urge for me to want to mold it to where it makes sense in my life and relationships, and therefore it seems more me and mine. Needing to constantly seek and inhabit someone else’s method doesn’t suit my personality. If its cold, I don’t just get a coat because you said so. I experience how cold it is and then I cover myself up accordingly to my comfort. So many people handicap themselves, making their learning and empowerment so dependent on others that they can never find themselves, ceaselessly hopping around from one quick fix to another groundbreaking method garnered with widespread public applaud cloaked within herd mentality.

We are powerful and vast enough to find our own answers while accepting pointers from people who have shared like experiences, but self help is largely based on your environment and experiences, there’s no one anecdote that transcends all cultures and experiences. I know it feels good to have role models or points of aspiration, but we don’t need to inhabit their whole being, we can be just as great as them in our own way. It’s you that determines how great the impact of others are because you have to respond and share it, but what if you shared yourself, then couldn’t you equally become great in some else’s eyes.

I’m not saying don’t read a full book because often I do get lazy, all I’m suggesting is pick out some things that really speak to you, don’t just mimic the whole title because how much of that is truly you versus what you just want people to see you as. We have to start getting more comfortable with ourselves and our truths, not just that of others.

Read to become more you, not someone else.

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Prose of a Con

Prose of a Con is a collection of Russell Wardlow’s prose and poetry written entirely behind bars. Through writings on family, spirituality, freedom, love, justice, redemption, and vulnerability, Russell seeks to show the humanity and hope of individuals like himself who are incarcerated.

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