Balance
Possible? Yes. Probable? Well…
That all depends.
Depends on what?
Well if you live in a capitalist controlled society, how much is money a direct concern for your ability to eat, drink, and be sheltered?
Are you living paycheck to paycheck just to survive? Constantly working to keep your head above water and only living on the survival plain?
If yes, then rest is a luxury. It shouldn’t be. Not this side of the industrial revolution. But it seems as though technological advances are weaponized against the working class in order to force more productivity for less compensation. See A.I doing to the white collar class what machines did to the blue collar class forty years ago.
From a place of stress and survival balance seems like a theory and a fantasy created by those who have never known struggle. But the ancient philosophies and spiritual practices that cultivate and tend to our hearts and souls come from a time when all there was to do was survive, when slavery was standard, and life expectancy was a fraction of what it is today.
Wisdom is wisdom for reason. Concepts, teachings, and ways; stand the test of time for a reason.
“Always do what you are afraid to do.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
When one spends the majority of their waking hours “earning a living”, and just trying to keep a roof over one’s head, as I spent many years doing myself; using limited leisure time for something other and pleasure is scary. That fear is often masked with dismissiveness, sarcasm, excuses, cynicism, and/or denial.
We work hard, we have the right to play hard. When one spends their time in the service of someone else’s dreams of making more, having more, producing more, extracting more…we want to spend our time off the clock doing what we want.
I understand this. I’ve eaten my feelings more times than I could ever attempt to count. I spent countless hours binge watches shows, rewatching movies, and marathoning video games because work sucks, I put in my time on the clock, and after my commute home it was ME time.
“Always do what you are afraid to do.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
But entertainment and escapism only worked so long for me before it all became shallow, then hollow, then empty, then a void, then burnout, then darkness.
We must challenge ourselves to work on ourselves and for ourselves, even when we feel we’re being worked to the bone and driven into the ground. It is hard. It is unknown. It is scary. It is work. It is hard. But it is worth it. Why?
Because we become better versions of ourselves. Individually, not in a cookie cutter way. Emotional regulation is different for everybody. Peace of mind is different for everybody. Overcoming fear is different for everybody. Letting go of the past is different for everybody. Physical fitness is different for every body. Mindfulness is different for everybody. Applied philosophical wisdom is different for everybody.
The principles are the same, the wisdom is the same, the application and results are unique because we are all unique.
I slept poorly for a third of my life. I spent my waking hours in a poor mental emotional state for half of my life. I had to work for a living. But when I stopped dedicating all of my leisure time to escaping and entertaining myself and went to work on myself, for myself…my sleep, my mind, my emotions all slowly and steadily became better.
“Always do what you are afraid to do.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
I’m still going, still working on it, no magic pill, no cure all, no end point until the end of my life. However, now I move forward with some stillness and balance.
Immeasurable? Yes.
Immeasurably better? Yes, please, thank you.
Anarchy Journal Constitutional 