Why worry?
In one of his famous videos, swami Gaur Gopal Das presented a witty flowchart to the audience tackling all your worries. ALL OF IT. The flowchart went something like this:
The audience roared into a burst of laughter, it was simple, but it made sense. Even though it makes sense, most of the people who read this will probably go back to their lives and start worrying about something or the other, again.
Oftentimes in life, we tend to worry about things which are not in our control. No matter how often the Bhagwat Gita tells us not to worry about the results, we do. We do care about the outcome and why shouldn’t we? We have put so much effort (be it time, money or hard work) into it, we do not deserve to fail!
Alas, life doesn’t always go your way. Your exams, for which you prepared all year, might have questions that you never anticipated. Your partner, whom you loved so dearly, might cheat on you someday. Your business, which was finally soaring, might go bankrupt, during a totally unpredicted pandemic. You get the point!
For most people, this is devastating. These failures are enough reasons to lose hope, to give up on life, and to live your life scared of what will happen next. However, you might’ve also met someone in your life, who takes everything so easily. You look at them and feel like this person’s not at all serious about his life. But the same person seems happier and content, while you, struggle for happiness.
The reason that anxiety, stress and depression are skyrocketing in society, is that we have been conditioned to take life too seriously. Think about it, will you perform better in exams when you are studying without taking stress? If you play sports, do you perform better when you are enjoying, having fun, and are fully engaged in it? Or do you perform better when you are dead serious, stressed and worried about not performing well?
Our problem is that we think we are so important. The reality is that if tomorrow morning you don’t wake up, the world will still be the way it is. A few people will notice, but they too will go on with their lives after some time. The issue is, you believe that in 6 million years, of all the humans that have lived, you think that you are important, that your life matters, and that you will do something significant with your life. In fact, you burden yourself with this responsibility so much that each day of your life becomes stressful. By accepting that you are not as important as you might believe, you can free yourself from unnecessary pressures and expectations, leading to more content and fulfilling life. It’s essential to focus on what truly matters and find joy in the ordinary aspects of life like relationships, love, friendship and family.
Yes, social media has brought us all together, but this comes with its consequences. If you are feeling down, for a day, for a week or even for a month, it is totally normal. But then you open your social media. Everyone seems to be having the time of their life. Everyone seems settled and happy. Everyone only posts the “good” in their lives. Now, you feel like shit for feeling like shit, which just amplifies the feeling. And now it is more difficult for you to process the emotions and take your time. As Mark Manson rightly said, “The desire for a more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience.”
Success is overrated. Hear me out now. Everyone wants to be on top. Even entrepreneurship is way too glorified today. Maybe you are happy doing a 9 to 5 job. Maybe you earn what is enough for you with a job. Maybe an ideal life for you isn’t taking risks with your own business but a stable job. Maybe you aren’t born to be a leader. And there’s nothing wrong with it. Everyone is different. Society might tell you otherwise, but just as with everything else, if you get sucked up into this, you will just complicate your life. Life is supposed to be blissful, worrying about unnecessary dogmas will add unwanted pressure.
So how do you wish to live your life? How serious are you about your life? Would you like to live a joyful life or be constantly on the edge of anxiety? In the end, what truly matters in life is, how blissfully you live each day. It has never been about how much money you earn, how much success you gained, how many people recognize you, or what impact you made. If looking back life at your deathbed, you regret not living a more fulfilling life, you regret that you should’ve lived a life less seriously, then it will not be worth it.
@vast_utsav
