All is Well
Life is ironically more stressful when we try to avoid stress. Stress isn’t something that can be avoided, but rather something that is dealt with, confronted, or simply not given additional attention beyond what is necessary. Life will always have some level of stress, and if there isn’t anything to stress about, then we can make up something to stress about because something can always go wrong. It’s a dangerous mindset that can take the wheel without a conscious understanding of it.
Generally, in western culture, there’s no real defining moment of becoming an adult. When I turned 18, I was still just a kid who was considered an adult by society simply because a physical age is more objective than a subject level of understanding, morals, responsibility, and financial independence. Everyone has different idea of what it means to be an adult in some form or another.
While I can’t give the definitive definition of what being an adult encompasses, I can share my thoughts on what it means to be mature. It would be along the lines of living as an independent and responsible person within society who lives with integrity. The context of independent here being: taking full responsibility for one’s own actions. Children are most likely to imitate whatever actions their parents display until they are old enough to really own the beliefs and values (or not) for themselves.
All is well when you know your place in society - even if it isn’t quite a place that fits in. Distress is substantially lowered when we understand the bigger picture and what cause we are plugging ourselves into. A life in pursuit of pleasure will suffer inevitably back into a state of “non-pleasure” or boredom. There’s no responsibility or growth available to those living for pleasure without roots. A life lived beyond the present moment sets us up for resilience, discipline, and an understanding that there is more to be gained later.
All is well when the stresses and difficulties of life are not seen as purposeless events. Progress is usually made under pressure, difficulty, and trials. Those who suffer the most in life are often those who make it the most successful. When we choose to channel the difficulties of an experience into something to learn from, the challenge moves from being a setback into a stepping-stone.
If something is painful, frustrating, or difficult, then the solution may be easier than we may think. It’s easy to make the problem more “complicated” when the reality is that we aren’t motivated enough to change some habits of our own. The next step will present it if we are diligent enough to do what we need to do and live our lives to the standard needed to move forward.
Sometimes the difficulties and trials seem to pick us without us even asking for it. It’s tempting to feel like a victim, but it’s an opportunity to become a better person. We likely wouldn’t become better people just for the sake of being better. There are times we need a challenge to come our way and put us outside of our comfort zone. It’s God’s way of telling us that it’s time to grow.
For further related reading, please check out: Even Good Change is Hard.
