The Age of Deep Seas
Life is a journey through a vast, endless, and bottomless sea. This sea is eternal. From the dawn of time, it stands there, waiting. Dark, perilous, and furious waters waiting to swallow everything and everyone that dares to defy them. This is our world, the place where we belong.
When we are born, we are clueless as to where we are or why we are here. And we are not supposed to know, no one does. We are created in this unpredictable world with one goal, to survive. It’s a cruel and sadistic paradox if you think about it. We didn’t ask to come here. We didn’t exist before being born. And in a blink, we come into existence for the only purpose of surviving amid a harsh and hostile sea until the moment we die. How pointless it may seem at first.
However, most of us are lucky enough to be born on a boat. This boat, albeit very small, is of utmost importance. It is the only thing that gives an illusion of order and safety in the chaos and darkness that surrounds the sea. Perhaps, there is hope.
Fortunately, we are not alone on the boat. There are mighty sailors on board who have learned to command the boat. They are our creators and they are in charge of raising us. These sailors are our family. By their side, we grow, both physically and spiritually. They do not have the answers as to where we are or why we are here. But through them, we acquire a first sense of how to survive in this place.
This is the first chapter of our lives. The next chapter is the most challenging one, this is where we are challenged to put everything we have learned to the test in the most brutal of ways. We wake up one day and our worst nightmare has come true. We are in the water, with the boat nowhere to be found.
The truth is we don’t remember how we got here. Perhaps, it was an accident. Perhaps it was by choice. Or maybe, this is the natural order of things. It doesn’t matter, we are here now.
This sea is very deadly. There are some terrifying creatures that live in the abyss down below. Every once in a while, they prey on anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves in the water. These are the things we cannot control in life no matter how hard we try. But this is not the main reason why this sea is so deadly.
Most people die in these forsaken waters because they drown. They drown not because of tidal waves or some ungodly zephyrs. They drown due to the anxiety and panic that ensues after the realization that they are, for the first time, alone inside their nightmare. Most of them have learned how to swim their entire lives but now it’s different. This time, fear takes over.
But why does this happen?
Why does anxiety take over?
Why do we paralyze?
The answer is, surprisingly, simple. All of our lives we have believed that we were in control. We were born inside the most unpredictable and unforgivable world possible but the boat gave us the illusion that we are in control.
This was necessary at the time but as we grow older and mature we learn from first hand that is not the case. We are indeed something magnificent. Our spirit and consciousness are a wonder, the most gorgeous and romantic creation in the universe. But this miracle is contained in something very fragile and vulnerable, our body. And when we find ourselves in this deep sea, we realize that the control we once thought we have is merely an illusion.
There is something very important to understand and the sooner we come to terms with it, the better. We, as humans, do not have true, deep control of our bodies. We don't control our breathing, we do not order our heart to beat nor do we tell all our other organs how to function. This is taken care of automatically by our brain, another organ in our fragile body.
The essential thing to realize here is that as we do not have control over all of our other organs, we do not have control of our brain. This is difficult to grasp at first but it is the sad reality. Our thoughts are simply the result of random biochemical reactions that take place in this complex organ we call the “brain”. They are sporadic, erratic and emerge at random times. We may like these thoughts or we may not. It’s not up to us.
Our consciousness, the one thing that defines us, humans, is merely a filter. We can’t control the creation of our thoughts — and we are not supposed to — but we can control which of them to keep and which of them to disregard. This is the most important life lesson. We are not our thoughts, we are not our emotions. We are something higher. We are one level of abstraction above. We are the filter of our brain, the filter of our thoughts and emotions.
So, if you embrace this theory, anxiety, panic, sadness, subliminal and intrusive thoughts are natural and happen to all of us. Not by choice but by design. This is how our body works. It is pointless to struggle to suppress them and avoid them because they are there. The only thing we can do is acknowledge them and learn how to tame them.
Most people struggle with anxiety because they don’t understand it. They think that it’s not normal to feel anxiety or sadness and this creates a vicious cycle as they get more anxious over time.
But who told you that you are supposed to feel happy all the time?
It’s very immature and childish of us to think so.
You will feel negative emotions but you don’t have to fear them.
We must embrace the fact that we are imperfect beings. We feel things we don’t want to feel. But the key point is that we don’t have to fear them. The only thing we have control over is how much they affect us.
You are in the middle of a dark stormy sea. Of course, you are going to feel anxious and terrified. That’s expected. It would not be efficient evolutionary-wise if you didn’t. Fear is what has kept us alive through the ages.
You have two options now. Either allow the anxiety and panic to consume you and stay there motionless waiting to die as a victim of the cruel sea or start swimming. Start swimming despite the fear and anxiety you may feel. Start swimming in search of a quiet and peaceful island where you will find inner and outer peace. Start swimming vigorously and don’t stop. It is not guaranteed that you will find the island. But you have to try, you owe that to yourself.
You will not overcome fear when you reach the island. You will overcome it while you are swimming. You will learn that anxiety will always be there but it’s there to help you, not to destroy you. Learn to tame it, and embrace it as part of yourself and your existence. And the next time you will find yourself amid a foggy dark sea, you will not freeze nor panic. Because anxiety and fear are your friends, not your enemies.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
