Lessons from the Porcelain Throne

The animals have so much to teach us about how simple and free flowing life is. I sat and watched a colony of sugar ants flow through my resort bathroom at 5:30am. More specifically, from the shitter. What I noticed was they stop and dap each other up along the way. The ants traveling north bump, seemingly purposefully into the ants traveling south. This looked almost like middle school, speaking to friends in the hallway. I went to a very real and raw middle school that more and more is similar to prison. I’m still trying to process the fact that it’s quite possible that I spent three years in a prison-like environment, but I digress.

When I looked closer, I realized not every ant daps their buddy coming downstream. Matter of fact, some ants go completely out of their way to avoid contact. I thought to myself, wow that’s just like our world too. Like energies link up, polar energies avoid one another like the plague. This observation came at the perfect time in my life where I have been trying to be more forgiving of myself for straying away from nonsensical vibes. That’s all there is to the rules of their ant colony. Their world is their own, however, their world is functional and peaceful. We have a lot to learn from these tiny friends that run all up and through the four-star resort.

Each individual ant is on a mission to fulfill their duty in the ant kingdom. They keep moving in the direction their internal GPS is guiding them towards, saying hello to their “friends.” Their friends are other ants they feel good about bumping antennas with and they keep it moving. I love that part. They keep it moving and don’t let the temptation of distraction play any role in their daily activity. I had to wonder whether or not they see those same ants again. These ants seem to fundamentally understand they are a unique individual contributor existing within a colony. However, every ant in the colony is not their kind of ant. Even though each of these ants look almost identical, they are not made of the same thing.

But guess what? The fact that ants flow toward only who they rock with and side step who they don’t does NOT interrupt the program. I repeat. The fact that ants are selective of who they interact with does not alter the grand scheme of things. The colony still thrives. One final observation from my temporary time spectating in their world was that one or two ants who decided to step outside the flow line completely. These unique sparks bumped antennae the same as everyone else but they also had no issue venturing off and not giving an ants ass about keeping pace with the rest of the crew. That unapologetic commitment to doing what feels good and what feels right is what I found so inspiring.

One ant in particular strayed so far from the packs, he was damn near on my slipper. Then as if, like magic, he did a little animal/ant about face and returned back to the pack. He got to explore solo dolo and he had a good time doing it. He fell back in line after spending some time exploring and it seemed none of his ant homies gave him any shit about it. He came back and was welcomed with open arms. Leave the pack if you feel compelled to. The assembly line will always be there to come back to. That’s all I needed to see, so thank you ants for letting me sit in the front and watch your wonderful show!