Length of Shower: I longed for it to be longer--A warning with this post: it won't be light and funny, but rather ponderous and serious. Because sometimes that what we think about in the shower :)
Today I thought about longing. Wanting. Wishing. Reaching. Praying for. These things can be one in the same emotion. I wonder if this feeling, whatever you want to name it, is a built-in part of the human condition. It seems that everyone of us is longing for something all the time. Reconciliation with an ex boyfriend or girlfriend. Searching for that perfect soul mate to be our future wife or husband. A longing to have that house or car or newest electronic device. A couple's desire to have a baby, but not yet having it and so they long for it together. The search for a job. The chase of a dream. The search for a long lost parent or child. Even retirement is something we all want or long for. They say that the only sure things are death and taxes. Why is it that the only things that are sure to come are the only things we seem not to long for?
Maybe this isn't a human condition but an American tradition. Maybe. But it sure seems like its a human thing. We all say we are longing for contentment and happiness and most of us think we will have that when we get whatever it is we are longing for, but the truth is not that simple. No, when we get what we want we normally start longing for something else. Why is it that we say we long for contentment? It seems to me contentment isn't something we can long for; it's something we simply have to accept in the current moment. But we can't accept it when we are busy longing for other things.
I don't really have a point with this post, just a thought for all of us to ponder over. Is it possible that in order to get the things we long for, we have to stop longing and just be content with what we have? Maybe.
Overchoice comes to mind. The idea that we are presented with such an abundance of choices that we are quickly overwhelmed and thus make a hasty decision which we are ultimately unsatisfied with and which then influences us to repeat the cycle over again. It's primarily used to refer to product consumption, but it applies to other domains of life, as well. One big, ugly cycle of unhappiness and longing. Everything's shallow in a world of surfaces.
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