B.S.A.

If you've gotten this far you're probably here wondering what the hell B.S.A. stands for. It's an initialism I created a few years ago when I was working as a food service manager and stressed out beyond the help any drug could offer. I sat down one night and proceded to spark up a joint as I always did in those days. It was movie night and I love a good movie. Especially when you're baked out of your mind and looking to zone away. This was going to be the perfect movie I thought - Surfer, Dude. The main character was a hippie-esque, weed smokin' surfer who was always zen. It stared Matthew McConaughey and I figured it would be like his iconic character "Wooderson" from Dazed and Confused, "You got a joint? It'd be a whole lot cooler if you did."

Now I'm not trying to claim that this movie should have taken the Oscars by storm, but it surprised me and was just what I needed. McConaughey is the only actor I can think of that could pull of a character like Surfer, Dude's Steve Addington and not come off as cheesy as Kraft Dinner (Hey a Canadian Favorite!)

Addington took each day as it's own and never worried about anything. He had blind faith that everything would just work out. He lived for surfing, but refused to compete. To him it was all about fulfilling the soul. That's what I needed. To find my flow, my zen, a quiet place in my mind where the stress and anxiety from work could catch me. B.S.A., Be Steve Addington.

And it worked. For a while anyway. My days off consisted of strolling around with my dog Lola, smoking one fat joint after another. I'd spend my day soaking in the sunshine and trying to run away from my thoughts. That's the funny thing about thoughts though, you can't run away and you can't escape. Not from your own mind. So eventually the work stress hunted me down like Elmer Fudd. "Be verwy, verwy quiet, I'm hunting Ryan's last nerve"

I ended up quitting fairly soon after that, leaving behind the highest paying career I have ever had. The funny thing was I didn't miss it or the money. The money had me convinced that I needed it, but once it was gone my life actually got better.

It was in the spirit of a zen surfer caring only about the moment that I rediscovered who I really was and what I needed to be happy. Money can buy you a shit tonne of stuff, but it will never purchase you peace of mind. And so it is to this day that I still remind myself when I get caught up in the bullshit rat race that is modern society, to just be Steve Addington.