These days the human lifestyle is undergoing a revolution. We work long hours to get a promotion, live healthy, constantly wanting to be better, wiser, controlling the progress. We impose on ourselves new tasks to minimise the feeling of failure. Pseudo-motivational quotes such as "go big or go home" become a mantra society devours, instils and repeats invariably. However, as the ladder of our expectations extends to the sky, and as we barely reach and stumble on each successive rung, instead of resting, letting go, we prefer to pursue our goals half-alive until the moment of hesitation and eventual failure.
In such a rapidly advancing world, that kind of attitude is nothing abnormal. Take, for example, the youngest representatives of the human race - children. From an early age, they are required to achieve high results in competitions, they are taught that grades are their priority, that classmates are unrepentant rivals. The constant pressure that accompanies each day of growing up turns into an unhealthy pursuit of, in most cases, unattainable goals. Over time, society has not learned to condemn such a destructive attitude. On the contrary, it began to be almost advertised as one of the best-selling products produced with the tag of “grand human race’s achievements”.
Even now, in such a difficult time, productivity, time management skills and a list of checked to-do items have become factors of how well we deal with situations. Online guides on how to be most efficient during quarantine commenced to flood us faster than we expected or wished. Watching peers pursuing a successful path, it is hard not to feel like an insignificant pile of human failure wearing dirty tracksuit bottoms and a week-long tee with a huge stain of coffee. Guilt becomes an inevitability, persistent voices whispering “So much free time. You should do something, should you not?" They easily slip into the cacophony of sounds of everyday life and the cramps of remorse do not allow you to look in the mirror without a grimace of disgust.
Is it a condition we wish to endure until our final days? Constantly comparing ourselves to others, setting clearly unrealistic goals? Is maintaining a balance between healthy ambition and being happy possible at all?
Paraventure, the best start would be to understood. Understand ourselves, the surrounding world, the reality we find ourselves in; explaining to ourselves who we were, are and who we can be.
No one will be the next Aldous Huxley writing spectacular dystopian novels. Nobody will be a descendant of Leonardo da Vinci, painting mysterious ladies with a gentle grimace all day long. Nobody will be the heir to the sweet-sounding Billie Holiday, whose voice makes one dream.
No one should be.
Hurling in such a peculiar amuck, we forget about the basics. Each failure is an excuse to punish oneself, fatigue is just a pretext. Instead of continually scolding ourselves, wouldn't it be wiser to halt? Allow ourselves to rest? Eat? Sleep? Be present in the moment? Create for the sake of creation. Read for the sake of curiosity. Take a nap to recharge batteries. Not to stress about it, but to consider it completely normal? Recalling our mistakes and regrets, we forget what it means to simply let go, laugh, have fun. Our lives lack a pause, a moment to come into terms with the past, not worrying about the future. Our lives lack us.
Let us hope that through the modification of the pyramid of our expectations, it will become an achievable hill, on which our journey will not be a chore but an adventure. We are to learn how to stop, rest, pat ourselves on the shoulder, and begin to see our own space in this grand, sometimes overwhelming, but truly wonderful world. After all, if we are to spend so much time in it, why not make it a comfortable place?
Klara Anna Gonciarz
June 6, 2022
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