Muse #1: Meet Joe Regular

Gotta admit: I don’t love talking about myself much. Which can make it a bit hard to write A Muse Letter.

So meet Joe Regular – our community’s lead actor.

Joe is ordinary folk. He isn’t a Millennial, GenXer or Boomer. He’s an Anyial.

He’s a creature of the routines that frame his everyday life. Wake-dress-Internet-commute-work-Internet-undress-sleep-repeat. This is why he continuously covets something new to buy or do … even though, more often than not, it may fail to live up to expectations. For example: a new shampoo that promises to smell like a freshly squeezed orange but instead resembles a bad batch of Juicy Juice. Or a bracelet that looks like it should be in the display case at Tiffany’s when seen online but turns out to be no more worthy than a prize you might find in the claw machine at an arcade.

He’s constantly conflicted. Not necessarily over right or wrong, but which decision is better or worse. At its root: His relationship with money – which is considerably more complex than the relationship with his wife. Costs are blissfully abstract. Withdrawals are brutally painful.

Joe is not brilliant. And he’s not dumb. Sometimes he wishes he was one or the other. Being “average” seems so invisible. But nobody can take away from him his curiosity. He’s like a kid who responds “why” to virtually anything that he’s told.

And because Joe Regular craves simplicity and convenience above just about anything else, he is often blinded to details that may matter to him. Like when he bought a used car sight unseen only to learn that, when he went to pick it up, the upholstery was pink.

The complexities of life – which can’t be taught in school – put him in constant need of distraction lest they become overwhelming. Which is why he seeks mindlessness and mindfulness. And he pursues remedies, such as supplements, even if they have no tangible evidence that they are doing anything good. His most recent purchase: Horsetail Extract. Though its label claims to prevent ulcers and kidney problems, Joe believes it’ll help put more “giddyup” in his step after being mocked for moving too slowly.

Perhaps most importantly, what Joe can turn to with confidence is that, in his dog, there is unconditional love, and in his alcohol, sports, and entertainment, conditional escape.

So that’s a brief introduction to Joe. You’ll be hearing much more about him, and members of his extended family, as we muse on. In the meantime, it’s ok to assume there’s a little bit of Joe in me — and all of us.