Sometimes the best thing I can do is say, “Fuck it.”
“Fuck it” may be the ultimate statement of commitment, saying “I’m in” or “I’m out” while blocking all other thoughts. It is a statement of acceptance – wholeheartedly embracing a course of action and its consequences.
“Fuck it†is best used in situations where there’s no going back. As a person who struggles with indecisiveness, getting to “fuck it†is an effective goal for me. Honoring this makes it easier to block the mental and actual chatter around me and within my head. I used “fuck it†when I went skydiving, when I made the decision to go to law school, and when I went to my first flash mob when all my friends bailed on me. (“Fuck it†can also be used to make really bad decisions like getting wasted and putting my fingers down my throat to make myself throw up.)
When I was a first-year law student, I wrote Seven Layers of Academic Hell. The seventh layer is “Fuck it.†Here, “fuck it†doesn’t mean I didn’t care about doing well in school. It meant I didn’t care about law school stress and other distractions. My mind got very quiet and I could focus on learning what I had to in order to properly articulate my understanding of the course material for the final exam. “Fuck it†can be a Zen-like state.
“Fuck it†makes life more simple. As an aspiring minimalist, I embrace “fuck it.†To me, saying “fuck it†means releasing the superfluous mental garbage, mentally locking in to the one thing that needs to be done, and following it through.
Getting to “fuck it†is simple, and not always easy. It often takes courage and the willingness to be uncomfortable in the process. But when I’m in a situation that requires me to say “fuck it,†making the commitment is less painful than mulling over the pros and cons. “Fuck it†takes me out of agonizing contemplation and into action.
Once I get to “fuck it,†there’s only one direction to go – forward.