Doing Alright

How are you? Are you doing alright? Whatever it is that you're doing, is it going alright?

I feel like we worry an awful lot about how people are doing. And we should, because a lot of people aren't doing alright. Whatever 'alright' is, they're not doing it.

But what is alright? It's a relative term. 'Alright' to me is getting steady work, making people laugh, talking with my friends, feeding my cat on time, making sure there's gas in my car, making sure that my credit card hasn't ballooned, pumping some iron, flexing my glutes, punch-dancing, dance-punching.

If I'm doing all of those things on a semi-regular basis, I'm 'doing alright.'

Alright, to me, encompasses some very special things, but it also has a few very trivial things. A few very trivial things that make me feel small. A lot of my peers, they've got responsibility now. They've got wives, husbands, kids, mortgages. I'm still playing in make-believe world. Literally. Sometimes I film myself talking to nobody in order to edit it into a short film, which will then hopefully make people laugh. And that's fine. That's called STAYING PETER. It's my motto.

But doing those things, for me, is doing alright.

This isn't the case for a lot of human beings. Doing alright means literally 'breathing.' A person critically injured or fighting a terrible illness is doing alright when they're still living.

I urge you today to take a look at your 'alrights'. Take an inventory of what things, activities in your life need completing so that you can feel 'alright.'

The next time someone asks you how you're doing, stop, and ask yourself the same thing. If you're 'doing alright' then, by all means, tell them.

But if you're not, make it so.