In my last post, I shared some thoughts on why so many people are unhappy. I’d like to continue that train of thought by discussing one of the biggest problems facing humankind.
The human race is a very conflicted collection of beings. It seems that we are most happy when we are striving to achieve an objective. We happily work all day long in anticipation of reaching our goal. Time seems to fly and our labor seems more like play when we set out to accomplish that which we strongly desire.
I am a woodworker and I can recall one project that I had designed and built that so captivated me that I worked over 24 hours straight on the project, skipping meals and sleep in the process. It was a joy to build and I found myself a bit down when the project was completed.
Isn’t it odd that, when we accomplish our objective, most of us are satisfied for only a brief moment? We then start looking for something else to accomplish or obtain. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say, “When I finish _______, or when I get _______, then I’ll be happy.” It’s curious that I never see a look of contentment from any of those people, even though they accomplished their desired objectives. Out of this behavior, we can arrive at the basic premise that humans are happiest when working toward an objective.
Humans are victims of inertia, that principle that says a body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest tends to stay at rest. The majority of humans seem to be most comfortable as bodies at rest. We tend to want to stay where we are, working in our same jobs, living in our same neighborhoods, eating our same food, all the while wishing for something else. Inertia keeps us stuck where we are. Inertia is the force that robs us of one of our greatest sources of happiness; progress toward an objective.
Although we want something more or something different, we don’t pursue it. This inexplicable force called inertia keeps us firmly cemented where we are. We may be miserable, we may be indigent or we may be in poor health, but it’s what we’ve been dealt and I guess we just have to accept it, right? er… I don’t think so and I’ll tell you why next time when we explore the real cause behind human inertia.