The most tormented people are the people who got everything they ever wanted and realised it wasn’t enough.
The example I’m going to use is mountain climbing, but you can replace that with any goal you have achieved in your life, be they educational, career, or personal goals.
The person who climbs one mountain will almost immediately start making plans to climb another because they realised that the important part of the climb wasn’t reaching the summit. It was the journey to reach it. But what happens when climbing the next mountain isn’t enough? That’s the point when people start to question their life choices.
I’ve divided people into three broad groups with varying levels of success, which are as follows.
The person who cimbs every mountain worth climbing may eventually reach the conclusion that what they’re looking for can’t be found in any mountain range. These are the most successful people. They eventually stop chasing external goals and start to look within themselves to reach the most coveted goal of all, and that is peace of mind.
The people who experience constant disappointment are not so lucky. They get so disillusioned with their inability to reach their goals that they give up. That’s not to say that they won’t find peace of mind, but that journey is not going to be a comfortable one.
Most people will fall into the category of the climber. They will achieve just enough success to make them want to see what’s over the next horizon. They’ll be so busy chasing their goals that they won’t have time to find peace of mind. To be honest, it may never cross their minds that peace of mind is what they’re really looking for.
Someone famous once said that you should choose a goal so big that you spend a lifetime trying to achieve it. I believe that peace of mind could be that goal.
