How to Scratch The Emotional Itch for “Better”
When you take a hike through scenic mountain trails, you’re prone to collect tiny arachnids called chiggers. You don’t feel them crawling up over your shoes, into a seam in your clothing.
Once they’re attached to your skin, you can’t help but notice.
When the itching starts, you’re not even sure where to scratch the whelps on your skin.
It’s pure misery.
Scratching the itch of the ever-elusive pursuit of “better”
You and I spend our lifetimes longing for something. We’re always seeking something better.
While “better” is a terrible descriptor, the term is inescapable.
Only you can determine where — specifically — you itch. Once you know what’s eating at you, it’s possible to figure out how to alleviate the discomfort.
The prevention & the cure
Consistent written self-reflection is the prevention and the cure to your innate itch for an undefined “better.”
You begin to separate thoughts from feelings.
Only through writing do you begin to think clearly enough to define what “better” means to you.
Experienced hikers know to take precautions against chiggers. Prevention, even though it takes a bit more effort, is a “better” way to stomp through the woods.
Sometimes, you get bitten anyway, despite your best efforts.
Discovering your “better”
Life works the same way. Pursuing “better” can be difficult, but it’s not near as uncomfortable as allowing the parasites of expectations to suck the life out of you.
Journaling is the remedy and the prevention on your way to the better “you” that only you can define.
