Comfort/Strength in Knowing Life Can Hardly Become Worse
This personal reflection/observation, like several others recently posted here, is also quite short.
It might be reflexively/naturally concluded that when life is going well, one would feel most comfortable and secure, but the past and current experience at least for me is typically that when everything is going "swimmingly" I often feel uneasy in the knowledge that such near-perfection will not last long and is invariably "punctured" by the unexpected intrusion of some sobering reality; whereas when life is going really badly, I take some comfort and security in knowing that it can hardly get much if any worse and feel that I'll be a stronger and wiser person because of the "demons" I've confronted and temporarily subdued--like the calm after a storm. [A variation of the Hemingway quote, "The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong in the broken places."]
If life is too easy, we tend to live it more superficially or under illusions, without "growing" and evolving into a more complete person. Could it be such rock-bottom consolation is merely a survival mechanism? But as the saying goes, "if it works, don't knock it."
Keywords:
"Downward toward darkness on extended wings"
”
—Wallace Stevens
About Brenden
After completing AFROTC and serving active and reserve military duty, I earned an M.A., with specialities in linguistics and creative writing. I have worked both at several major regional corporations (generating public relations...
Connections
Causes Brenden Allen Supports
Wounded Warriors
Salvation Army
Salesian Missions
Fairview Foundation
Brenden’s Favorite Books
CONFESSIONS (St. Augustine)
CANDIDE;
MADAME BOVARY;
THE AMBASSADORS;
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE;
ON CHESIL BEACH
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Comfort/Strength
Hello my friend,
The more I get to know you the more I see the "below the surface" Brenden, he who bears scars of past hurts so nobly. We swim through life hoping we'll reach the shore beyond with a minimum of discomfort and once having arrived, know how to be a stronger swimmer. Another variation on your "evolution into a complete person". Live each day as if it were the only day in your life. Notice everything! Don't look back. Inner strength is found in the smallest detail of our days. For me, as I'm currently wading through St. Augustine's Confessions, I feel if I ever get to the end, maybe I'll comprehend all that he was trying to say.
Margie
Perseverance
Margie,
Did you notice that Annette Talbert's recent blog candidly confronting similar realities of our shared human condition? [Finding Inner Peace] Thanks for reading my blog and adding your insightful comments.
Brenden
I guess that is the reason
I guess that is the reason why I try to mindfully stay centered/keep my balance. Too much to the left or to the right can make one too complacent that we forget and then something hits or blind sides you yet the funny thing is even when I am enjoying my centeredness, i still trip and fall and lose my balance! That is life as they say, right?
Balance
Rina,
My appreciation for adding your valuable insights on balance and keeping a steady course.
Brenden
Balance
Rina,
My appreciation for adding your valuable insights on balance and keeping a steady course.
Brenden
Germans
Brendon, I love your blogs - I think maybe we bear some similar shaped scars, at least I don't think either of us is afraid to look the causes square in the eye. My wife sometimes shares an old German saying (even to our 6 and 7 year olds - given the world they're inheriting, maybe "especially" to them)
"What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."
Also, if I'm willing as much as possible to live in the moment, I don't think it's unreasonable to at least get to choose which one!
Keep that keen eye peeled and that sharp pen writing. It's a privilege to know you!
If it works...
Thanks for this, Brendan. I am a strong believer in accepting any practical solutions to life's upsets. And you are so correct, that if one lives long enough, the ups will go down and the downs will go up. Personally, I am at a place where I have never knowingly been before and that is the realization that the the downs will likely go much deeper and the worst is yet to come. Another reality for me to learn from and cope with. I am not doing too well with the challenge, so one coping mechanism I have to use is to give myself permission to not do well. Can the opposite of success be success?