Nicole Davis7 said:Does anyone else here ever catch themselves spiraling because of some unfulfilled dream from way back? I’m talking about the stuff that haunts you—maybe it was a degree you never finished, a career path you walked away from, a relationship that just didn't work out, or just some random life plan that fell apart. It’s so strange because, honestly, my life right now isn't bad at all. There isn't even any guarantee that if those things had actually happened, my life would be better today. Do you ever feel like these lingering desires are just pure frustration? Like, part of you wishes you could just turn them off so you wouldn't feel like you're missing out on something you never even had? If you don't deal with this kind of mental loop, you are truly lucky. 😁.
No.
If I didn't have desire, I’d find myself missing something profoundly. It wouldn't just be a minor absence; it would be an ache. I’d feel hollow—like an empty cardboard box sitting on a porch in the middle of nowhere. 😁
To be honest, I find it nearly impossible to envision a life devoid of desire. It seems baked into the very architecture of the human psyche—as soon as one longing is satisfied, a new one inevitably takes its place. There doesn't seem to be anyone who exists entirely without want, someone who simply sits back and finds total contentment in whatever they currently possess, regardless of what that might be. Of course, there might be outliers. Perhaps those who have stared down death itself, or individuals who have clawed their way through truly harrowing ordeals, might find that kind of stillness. But for the rest of us? The hunger is constant.
I know people who go around claiming to be that way, but let’s be honest—that’s a different story entirely. If they actually embodied those traits, they wouldn't feel such a desperate need to constantly repeat themselves or try so hard to convince everyone around them that it's true. 😁
I tend to steer clear of those grand, megalomaniacal ambitions—the kind of lofty, unreachable goals that do nothing but breed frustration. It feels much more rewarding to aim for something modest, something actually within my grasp. I’d much rather chase small wins that I can actually secure; it means I get to enjoy those little bursts of genuine happiness a lot more often. 😁
Whenever a new desire takes hold of me, I find myself sitting down to dissect it. I go through the motions of interrogation: Why do I actually want this? What would the fallout be? How would it shift my reality? Usually, the whole thing just fizzles out under the weight of my own scrutiny. I often come to this realization: if I actually managed to pull it off, I’d be incredibly happy for exactly one day. By the next morning, that feeling would already be starting to ebb away. And then, predictably, a different craving would take its place. Or worse—that hollow, stagnant void sets in. That state where you have no desires left because everything you ever wanted has been checked off the list. It leads to this strange, unsettling loop where you might actually find yourself regretting having fulfilled a wish in the first place, simply because the satisfaction vanished so quickly.
Every wish we actually get granted turns out to be just a smaller version of the original illusion—a diminished hope, a faded dream. It’s like the light starts to dim the moment you reach for it. As Camus once put it, "in a world without illusions, man is a stranger," which is really just a poetic way of saying he's miserable.
There is a certain beauty in unfulfilled desires. In fact, they might be at their most potent when they remain out of reach—that's when they possess the capacity to become a true sense of purpose. 😍
