What

Pictured above is a 23.5 oz. can of Shaq Soda that has sat unopened, up on my shelf for four years. Call me a hoarder, even a pack rat if you will, but the can itself is not why I’m here. This blog post is not an exploration of consumption, rather a lack thereof.

I started working the summer after I graduated high school, part-time in a supermarket that was close to home. When I received the first paycheck I had ever earned in my life, I put a lot of thought into what exactly I’d buy with it. I went to the bodega across the street from my old job and bought a can of Vanilla Cream-flavored Shaq Soda. I once saw this moment as a symbol of absurdity that at the time, I found hilarious. In retrospect, it was nothing more than a reflection of the childish caricature that I often struggle to repress. My first relationship was in its infancy around this time. Though they say love knows no bounds, she was not in love with my insistence on keeping the can on a shelf above my bed. Soon enough, we broke up and time moved on. I hope Time is managing well, because I often wonder if I’m even doing okay. Amidst the sadness, as the world around me began to shift and my perspectives began to change, the can remained. Up on my shelf, there it sat with its oddly pixelated face of Shaquille O’Neal offering a clumsy, yet supportive wink.

I remember looking up from my bed as I binge-watched Arrow to ease my heartache, only to feel it shatter a few weeks later when I realized how downhill the series was going. My head lulled one early evening and I saw the can of Shaq Soda sitting up on my shelf.

Why did I never drink it? After a long life of hedonistic over-indulgence and over-consumption — whether it was food or people or pain — that I somehow found the restraint to not drink this horribly flavored concoction by the Arizona Beverages company. An idol of stupidity endowed me with an uninhibited spirit and a sense of control, the discipline to never open up this can of Shaq Soda. Four years later and there it sits comfortably on my shelf (a different shelf, however. The other one collapsed on my head while I was sleeping, and though the can came out unscathed I resolved to never hang shelves again in my life).

I quit my job this past weekend. With all the extra free time on my hands, I thought “Surely, I can produce some quality content for the blog this week,’ but here I am with a picture of a can of Vanilla Cream soda decorated with the face of Shaquille O’Neal who was a ‘3 Times Finals MVP,’ a fun fact graciously taught to me by the can itself. But I’m not here to talk to you about a can of soda. This post is not an exploration of consumption, it is a call to the desperate and the strained to stay their hands and to leave that can up on their shelf. No matter what drastic changes you face, no matter the stress, know that when you find the power of restraint you’ll be happy to have given your best effort to the kind of work that will forever be a part of your life.

Christopher LaSasso