Don’t Be a Post Turtle
What’s up everybody? Been a while since we’ve done a live. Hopefully everybody’s new year is going well. Just wanted to get on, I was doing some thinking the other day and wanted to get on and talk about something. So this is Post Turtle now. Before, some of you probably know what a Post Turtle is. It depends on where you’re from. Some of you are probably thinking Schuler’s lost his ever loving mind talking about Post Turtles.
So, here’s the thing. I’ve been watching what’s going on with our elected officials, our government shutdown, some of the things that they’ve been voting on and doing, without getting into naming stuff. Things that people are jumping on a bandwagon about before they know the full truth about it, and those are all to me kind of examples of Post Turtles. So what is a Post Turtle?
Well, it comes from an old saying, that it’s supposedly from a rancher who is talking to somebody who’s riding with him, somebody from the city, and they’re driving along on the ranch and they see a fence post with a turtle on top, turtle balancing perfectly on it’s shell. This guy from the city says, “So what is that?” The rancher says, “Well that’s a Post Turtle.” He says, “Well what is a Post Turtle?” He says, “Well, here’s the thing. He has no idea how he got up there, number one. Number two, you know he didn’t get there by himself. Number three, you know he dang sure don’t belong up there. Number four, he doesn’t know what to do while he’s up there, because he’s out of his element. He’s in over his head, really, and number five, you just wanna help the poor thing down. You just wanna help get it down because you know it shouldn’t be there.”
So it’s got me thinking about, as men, as people in general, are we acting like Post Turtles? Are we getting ourselves into situations where we, number one we don’t know how we got there, number two we don’t know what to do once we’re there, number three, we don’t really belong there, and number four, people just wanna help our stupid selves, help us get our stupid selves down from there? That’s, when I look at our elected officials, and here’s the thing, I don’t think they all start out that way. I don’t think they all start out thinking that to be acting like they act or being swayed by special interests, I really don’t. I truly believe that the majority of them get into it because they want to do something. They want to make a change, they want to make a difference, no matter what side of the aisle you’re on, right? But man they’re just a bunch of damn Post Turtles up there right now. I mean, it’s almost the definition of a Post Turtle.
So for my challenge to all of us guys, and the women out there, is are we being a Post Turtle? Are we doing things, are we putting ourselves in situations? You know one of the things we talk about being, when I talk to my kids about it, talk to my wife about it, about being safe, about putting yourself in a situation where there’s a potential for harm or danger. The best way to avoid that is to not put yourself in those situations, right? The best defense is sometimes an offense, and that offense means not to put yourself in those types of situations. So looking at it, is it something that, are you paying attention to those situations? If you’re paying attention to where you should be, not that you shouldn’t move yourself forward, grow yourself, put yourself in situations that are stretching you, growing you. We’re supposed to do that. We need to be a little bit uncomfortable, but to put ourselves as an expert in a situation where we’re not an expert, tends to make us look like a Post Turtle. We get up top there, and because we’ve read something or we’ve heard something, and now we pontificate or we elaborate on something that we don’t know about, then we look like a Post Turtle.
The other thing that this works into for me, and this is just because of something that I noticed, is when I look at, you know we talk about the term “Netflix and chill”, we talk about the term “gaming”, we talk about all these things where people are checking out, right? People are looking for something to check out in. Not that relaxing isn’t a bad thing, not that kicking back and zoning out for a little while or releasing everything isn’t a good thing. It is good to do and everybody needs to do it every now and then, but I look at the number of adults, and I’m talking guys my age, 46, 28, full-time job, family people, got kids at home, got a wife, that come home from work and game. “Game”, I don’t even understand what that … and one of the things I’ve noticed is some people just get on YouTube and they watch other people playing the game. What the? Seriously, you’re too lazy to even play the game? Now you just watch other people playing it.
I just, again, an era, an age differential obviously because I just don’t get that stuff. It makes no sense to me. Even the gaming thing in general. I mean I get, so that’s something that you love to do, it’s a hobby. Awesome, do it every now and then. Play a game every now and then, but you’re a freaking adult. You don’t need to play World of Warcraft or, I don’t even know what the games are, what do the boys play? Fortnight!
It’s like, okay I’ve heard of women complaining that their husbands come home from work and they play, they’re on video games with headphones talking to other dudes playing a video game for five or six hours after work. You’ve got a wife. I can think of a lot of things to do with my wife that outrank playing a video game. I’m not just talking where you guys thought I went. I’m talking intelligent conversation, I’m talking find out how her day went, I’m talking about all these other things that are involved with being a couple, being a husband, having your kids. Maybe paying attention to your kids instead of doing that. Maybe, okay so I will give you this, every now and then my kids ask me to play video games with them. I don’t play for very long, and I suck at it, and they laugh at me, and that’s okay, but I’ll do it because it’s their thing. Now, we do have very strict rules about how much you can and can’t play in our household and those are adhered to, but spending time with others, if that gaming is taking you away and turning you into a true Post Turtle, you got a problem.
I mean, it’s one of the things I look at when people say, “Oh I have trouble with my wife,” or “I have trouble with my kids,” or “I have trouble with this, I have trouble with this,” or “I’m struggling here.” I’m looking, okay how much time are you spending and putting into number one, improving yourself, and improving yourself doesn’t mean playing a video game for six hours after work. Improving yourself means reading something that’s gonna increase your knowledge here, challenge you, stretch you, move you forward. That’s gonna help you grow. If you’re spending time in the Bible, reading about it, applying those things to your life, all these different things play a part, right?
So guys, I’m gonna challenge you, if you’re a “gamer’, look at, not saying you have to quit playing videos games, because you like playing video games, I’m saying look at how much you’re playing. Look at what it’s distracting you from, look at what it’s taking away from, and then are you adding value to yourself and to your family and to those around you by improving yourself, by listening to a positive or a building something, a podcast, learning something new. I mean learning how to sew something, learning how to forge a knife, learning how to whatever it is, learning something new is gonna stretch you and grow you. It’s gonna do a lot more good than playing a video game for six hours.
So, that’s all I got today guys. That was just something that was gnawing at me with recent events and everything that’s been going on. Don’t be a Post Turtle, and for God sakes, you don’t have to game for six to eight hours a night. That’s not an adult, you’re still a kid. If you’re gaming for more than an hour in a day, if I’m gonna be honest, you’re not an adult. Unless you’re making massive money at it and that’s your job. That’s my two cents, guys, hope you’re all doing great. Hope you’re having a great new year, hope you’re crushing your goals for the new year. Leave me a comment below, let me know how your new year is going and what you thought of this message today. All right guys, take care. Have a good one. We’ll talk soon.