The Swamp of Life
Have you ever observed how your life was good, but one day, you were in a swamp, have you? You lost the essence of your life, the colours vanished from your picture, and everything became meaningless. You are confused, everyone around you is confused, and no one knows what to name this illness. Well, when we speak of humanity, it becomes a compulsory part to start with the advent of humanity. The man was expelled from the divine palaces and found himself around mountains and rivers. What do you think man did at that time? He found a purpose, a reason to live for. Since then, man’s life is centred around purpose and meaning. But finding yourself in a mud or swamp is something different. It feels like being stuck somewhere. You can’t move ahead or backward. The swamp of life is driven by personal frustration and the constant urge to desire and do more caused by the advancing multi-tasking world, lack of self-realisation, and the directionless nature of man and the decisive dip moment.
Advancing multi-tasking world is a driving force behind man’s swamp of life. Well, we should start with how nowadays every information and experience is in our hands. As it is often said that the luxuries of today were what the Romans and emperors of other empires dreamt and strived for. In the past, if a man stumbled upon a question, then he had to visit a sage of that era or live with that question. But nowadays, everyone is independent. The internet is out there to teach you a lot of things that people in old age could not. When a person reads and comes near a lot of content, he starts to think and desire those things. Meeting new people and interacting with them is also the same. You are scrolling your X feed and see someone telling stuff about their Ph.D. in Physics. Physics immediately started intriguing you. You now have discovered that your interest was not in your current field, but it was in physics. The next day, you see someone discussing and sharing small, wholesome moments from their literature life, now you want to pursue literature. Physics and whatever is your current field are all futile. Now all these instances, trigger one thing in your mind; to pursue and dream of these fields. You want to become a physicist, but you also want to become a literature student, but a part deep inside you longs to become a diplomat, and so it continues. The multi-versions of your future self, place you in a dilemma. Your experiences based on nanoseconds would decide which cassette of your future self to play. But is it good to do so?
While thinking several versions of yourself is considered not bad, in the end, in the long run, all these versions disarray your peace and ambitions. After dreaming about all these multi-versions, it becomes hard for you to decide on one and to move on. It becomes hard for you to opt for one version that would last till the end. You want everything based on your experiences and interactions, but you have to select one. The decision is yours. Obviously, you take time to decide. I want to pursue a career in pharmaceutical development, but at the same time, I want to become an oncologist because that is more rewarding. But what good is it to get an MD? Decisions are postponed because the multi-tasking world gives you many opportunities to know and many interactions and so the swamp begins. It is necessary to have a single or at least purpose at every moment in your life or else the swamp begins.
An advocate of technology and futurism comes and argues that nothing can be done about the multi-tasking world because it is decided to be like this. Many other people are triumphing with these distractions. A directionless man with no self-realisation is more prone to distractions, thus causing a swamp. After a certain point, a person should outline his life or at least decide what to do next. Because if it is not done on time, then distractions are enough to haunt you in the swamp.
It is a natural process that every reaction or initiation process reaches a certain point where nothing significant happens. It feels like the reaction has stopped here and will not proceed further. The dip moment of life is a point where a man reaches the swamp not because he was directionless or was taken away by distractions, it is only because the good phase is about to start. The good phase or the phase marked by significant progress needs tough decisions and herculean courage. The duration of the dip moment varies and it depends on the person. As mentioned earlier, the dip moment demands some tough decisions. Whether to continue with it or not, whether to give up or not, whether to sacrifice something or not, etc. demands something and demands a tough decision. Once Hercules was in the same situation. On one path, he would have all the luxuries of this world. On the other path, he would get pain and suffering. But those plight and agony would make him stronger and a prominent figure in the history of mankind. You know what he did? He opted for the other path. The path of anguish. What happened afterward, is written in the annals. Similarly, everyone has to go through a herculean phase which is the dip moment when everything seems to stop and no picture makes comprehension. The man has to make a gritty decision. Therefore, whenever a swamp of life comes, reflect on your life. If a decision is due, then take it.
The swamp of life is caused by either due to distractions, the directionless nature of a person, or the dip moment. In some cases, man is held accountable. In some cases, the man has to take responsibility. Whatever is the reason behind the dip moment, everyone has to go through it.
