It’s easy for me to write this post right now because, at the moment, I feel pretty good.
Would you rather feel happy or feel deeply? Is one more important than the other?
Happy would be the easy choice, but at times, wouldn’t you want to experience all life has to offer? Good, bad, and painful?
Would intensity matter? Like happiness just wouldn’t be as happy if you didn’t also feel darkness and despair sometimes?
I often get a sort of “high” at work. I love my job. Many days I feel truly happy there and I don’t want that feeling to end. It’s a very welcome feeling in my life right now since I’ve struggled so much in the past few months. During my recent relapse, I even wondered if I would ever work again, but here I am, truly enjoying my job. It’s so wonderful.
What would it be like to have that feeling all the time?
My husband is usually a very calm person, but boy, does he get fired up about politics. I absolutely love that compassionate, do good-er side of him that wants to make the world a better place. What would it be like to never get fired up? Doesn’t it give us a purpose? What if there was nothing to get fired up about?
It’s probably pretty obvious that I feel deeply and tend to be a more complicated person. On my worst days, I yearn for a simpler life, although I’m sure many people can relate to that feeling. Do you ever feel that way?
Most days I would rather feel deeply, although some days I would choose happy because some days are so painful you just want relief. I wonder why I would ever want to feel such pain.
Are you happy? Do you feel deeply? Is one more important than the other? Is it necessary to feel deeply to truly feel happy? Is it important to have something to get “fired up” about? Do you think about these things or do I just need more to do?
I’d rather not feel.
I was passionate about popular music when I was a teen and I still like some of the newer stuff. I loved to dance when I was younger and got pretty good at basic ballet. Still can do a grand battement at 70. I was passionate about general science and I loved my major and wanted to be a botanist. Still have that love for science and am teaching myself basic astronomy just because I’ve always been curious about how people told time before clocks were invented.
Sometimes I wish I wasn’t passionate because I have danced until my feet bled, stayed up for 3 days strait just because I had to finish a painting . And the science learning is ongoing . I missed my bus stop because I was just too fascinated by the article about the Higgs boson.
“… I’d rather feel bad, than not feel anything at all…”
— Warren Zevon
My choice: Feel sincerely.
😉
My mother was raised in a classic midwest family, solid churchgoers. Her philosophy was to take the emotional middle – giving up euphoria to avoid depression. I didn’t agree, but I think some of that teaching moderates me anyhow. Late in life now, I look at her life, raising five kids, military wife for a dozen years moving those kids around, post-military periods of poverty, and maybe that was the best choice for her life. So, like most choices in life, consider the context.