It's been a wild weekend and a cranky but cute 6 week old who thinks nighttime it party time doesn't help. 

So what's the best cure for a getting through the day mentality?  A shared sense of adventure.  We can all recall a time when the possibilities were endless; we were the drivers of our own lives, and the sky was the limit.  Years of grudging acceptance of reality often jades this perspective, leaving us with the distractions and escapes of entertainment, television and movies, living lives of forgotten dreams and eventual regrets. 

So why is it that we flock to media for distraction?  For a fake, plastic sense of adventure gained through association with compelling content that requires no personal risk and no effort greater than flicking the remote from the comfortable confines of the lazy boy?  We as a culture spend ridiculous amounts of time and money living vicariously through the fictional characters on TV, simply because we're looking for escape.

CK raised some great points around the ethical parameters of reality tv, but it is the reality behind that television experience that drives our attention to the unscripted.  While the fictional characters created by talented teams of writers often provide compelling venues for escape into lives far more compelling than our own, reality tv has an air of authenticity that cannot be scripted.

The next step in the reality revolution will not be MORE reality programming, but true reality, often featured in UGC.  For all the inane mindless dribble that is much of YouTube, there is the occasional clip that generates a true emotional connection.  For me, the clip below encapsulates the true power of this media.

As poorly produced as this clip may be, tell me you didn't root for the kid to do something amazing.  Tell me a little bit of you didn't celebrate when he splashed down into the pool.  Tell me you didn't feel the sense of victory that often accompanies your team winning the championships when his friends took the dive. 

Our complacency often comes from burn out.  The only way to get yourself back on track is to remind yourself of the greatness and achievement that is possible.  I once worked for an elderly man who surrounded himself with younger people.  I thought he was crazy, but he said that he fed off their youthful exuberance.