3 Tension Duos: Attention Or Intention, Price Or Worth, Happiness Or Joy?

You Can Have It All, Yet Not All At The Same Time.

Photo by Andy Lee on Unsplash

As we enter the second lockdown in France to try to flatten the curve of COVID-19, this is the first time in my life where I feel a little bit anxious about the future of us.

Despite all the challenges life has thrown at me so far, I have always been able to see the bright side in life.

Yet, with the unknown number of waves of COVID-19 coming, I am struggling to make sense of what is important or not while locked away from other sources of positive energy like social interactions with family, friends, colleagues, and the rest of the world.

I figured out this is the best time to reflect on some tense duos that are tearing me apart in life right now.

Indeed, for the first lockdown, we were 3 in a small apartment downtown in Toulouse, France. Keeping our son Noah sane in a closed environment was a challenge.

As this new lockdown is coming, we are fortunate to have moved into a house outside Toulouse. Even though I am aware of my blessings, I sometimes struggle to choose between attention and intention, focus on my price or worth, and seek happiness or joy.

If you have been there, then you know what I am feeling.

Of the billions of choices we must make in life, I find that these 3 duos create most of the tensions in my life.

1. Attention vs. Intension

When we are young, seeking our parents’ attention is a way to show that we are here and that we matter. We get instant feedback and gratification. So, we build our existence around that loop of attention-seeking to validate our presence in this world.

And with social media, where influencers are the warriors in attention-seeking, we are eager to spend all our time mimicking them in the search for instant attention.

Yet, like the notifications buzzing in our phones, attention is doomed to disappear once we click on it, emptying our perforated bucket.

Attention is tied to other people’s willingness to give it to us. It is an external currency over which we…