Practicing The Subtle Art Of Detachment
Why taking a step back is as necessary as moving forward
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From everything that I recall about my life so far, I can say one thing with absolute certainty.
I have been an extremely passionate person.
Passionate about everything. Be it life in general, work, friendships, relationships. Bustling with energy, I have always liked to give my heart, my soul, my mind and my energy completely into things that matter to me.
I take the leap and I go all in like there is no middle spot.
And that always seemed to work for me. I was always on the high wave, getting things done, maintaining the happiest relationships and believing with certainty that I could achieve absolutely anything.
Until, I reached a day when the things that really mattered to me were at a point of collapse and I collapsed along with them.
And my story is not really unique in this sense.
Mental fatigue and burnout is almost like the epidemic of the century. Some of the brightest people with immense energy and passion go through this phase of extreme exhaustion which might last for months if not years.
And that’s because there is a bit of a downside of being too passionate. To put it simply, when you go about attaching your happiness, your existence and your life’s meaning too deeply with your work, your relationships or anything else for that matter, you put yourself at risk.
And why is that?
Because with attachment comes a very strong urge to control the circumstances.
While you can exercise some amount of control over what happens in your life, that will absolutely never eliminate the possibility of things going haywire or the possibility of your plans and ambitions not quite turning into reality.
You put yourself at risk because you put so much of yourself into something unwilling to believe that there is a tiny chance that it might not quite work out the way you plan.
