The very nature of goals and aspirations causes tension, and
sometimes that tension can become uncomfortable. The greater the goal, the
greater the tension and quite possibly, the discomfort.
Imagine a giant, invisible rubber band wrapped around you – where
you are today in your current state – and some future goal – where you desire
to be or who you aspire to become. Now that you have set that goal for yourself,
there’s pressure on you to achieve the objective. That’s the tension from the
rubber band. Although invisible, those forces are very real and can cause some
stress and discomfort.
Because you are a human being – and human beings don’t like
feeling that tension – you will naturally seek to relieve that tension. The
first way is to begin the mission of moving towards the objective, painstakingly
reducing the distance between you and the goal. As you get closer to the
target, the tension begins to diminish and is replaced by excitement as you near
your goal.
However, there is another way to reduce that tension. You
could also change the objective and choose something that isn’t quite as far
away, something that’s less of a stretch. While this approach may relieve some
of the tension, it is certainly not replaced by excitement. In fact, feelings
of defeat and compromise will likely flood in and create a different sort of
stress, the internal strain of settling.
Every day you make that choice to stretch to where you could
and should be, or settle for something closer to where you already are. The
tension is relieved either way, but what replaces it could not be more
different.
Comments
Post a Comment