Is it even possible to have a stress-free life? Not in the sense of whether it’s possible in theory, but whether it would be desirable or even enjoyable.
Life ultimately consists of a specific period, defined by two events. We know when it begins. Our family will remind us of the time and date we were born, whether we cried a lot, and how much we weighed and how tall we were in those first hours when we experienced existence outside the womb.
But the same cannot be said—except in tragic circumstances—for the exact moment when our presence ceases to be felt on this plane.
Between those two points, if we don’t have any major concerns in our lives—the kind that sometimes keep us awake for an extra hour or two at night... We will certainly “find” “minor” worries, and we’ll get caught up in those situations, eventually worrying about something that has little or almost no importance—but since nothing else is causing us concern, it ends up becoming our focus, and we place it atop the mountain, like a scapegoat.
This illusion—that even the smallest worry is something that must be taken into account and that will undoubtedly shape our thoughts, interactions, and even our lives—will lead us to be guided by a lack of meaning.
That’s why, when we sometimes say in coffee shop conversations that we’d like to have a worry-free life, we don’t fully grasp the true consequences and impact—the harm that would result and the toll it would take on our lives, right up until our deathbed.
It’s common for us to wish for something. Often, that wish wouldn’t even be the best thing that could happen to us.
Have you ever found yourself dreaming of another life? But during that dream—and this exercise of the imagination—we let reality take over to shed light on what we might actually have. And we often end up taking a second look—one that’s more thoughtful and reasonable—in which the trade-offs of what we thought would lead us to the Nirvana of fulfillment suddenly plunge us into a ravine of despair and disillusionment.
As I always heard my parents and grandparents say during my youth:
“Careful what you wish for…”
Image by Ruth Archer from Pixabay
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