A friend who is in the middle of a turbulent juncture in his life right now told me that he was completely exhausted. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? That sense of depletion, of running out of juice, of feeling as if the world has ganged up against you. Everyone will give you advice how to combat such fatigue or ‘weltschmerz’. The truth is, only you yourself can ease yourself out of exhaustion. And no amount of zen, meditation, weeks away in the tropics, can mitigate that internal sense of disquiet which comes with the realization that you are running on empty. People often talk about modern life being immensely stressful, over-connected, hyper-fast. Just as there is this notion that if you close the door on the charged rhythms of urban existence you will find a certain peace in the country. Certainly when I retreat to Maine I maintain a far different schedule than in New York or Paris. But you can travel to the virtual end of the geographic line - and still find yourself carting with you all the disquiet that you felt smack dab in the middle of wherever you function. We all dream of a life without stress, where jadedness and world-weariness don’t inhabit our daily routine; where we can find an unhitherto elusive ease. Does such a life exist outside of self-help books and the dreamy ad copy of spa retreats? Or is disquiet simply an ongoing facet of the equation that is the human condition?
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 20:20:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015