My cousin climbed onto the green padded stool next to me. I took one look at him and said:
“You look terrible! What’s wrong?”
“It’s strange, I woke up this morning feeling caged, imprisoned, restricted, and barred!”
“Well, I guess you don’t feel so good,” I smiled.
“It’s not a laughing matter, cousin.”
“I’m sorry. Bartender, two beers here.”
My cousin took a gulp of his beer and continued:
“My wife wants this, my wife wants that, I don’t like my job and I feel very unsatisfied. I seem to be looking for something, but I’m not sure what it is or where to look for it!”
I took a sip of my beer and thought for a moment.
“I think I can explain your feelings, cousin.”
“I hope you can, because if you think about it, I really have everything I need, food, clothes, shelter, job, and a wife, yet I have an overdose of depression!”
“Well, cousin, the question is: Why, when our basic needs are met, do we still feel unsatisfied?”
“Why, indeed, cousin.”
He stared at me, waiting for the answer.
“I think our constant searching for something else is because our brains, bodies and society in general have changed so radically in the last 50 or so years. We have evolved!”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Our culture has evolved, in what we do, how we get our food, how long we live, where we live, what we buy, and how we think about life. So, in our abundant society, we no longer focus on what we NEED, we think more about what we WANT.”
“Wow! I want a lot of things!”
My cousin stared into his glass of beer like it was a crystal ball.
“So, what do we do to adapt to this evolution?”
“Probably you need to become more electrified, search for more adventures and meaning in life, challenge yourself more.”
“I always feel like life is passing me by quickly.”
“That’s the thing, my cousin, the grim-reaper is always right behind us, whispering, “I am coming!”
My cousin was wide-eyed!
“That’s a scary thought.”
“It’s meant to be scary, to get you moving, doing different things in life. As the years pass, ask yourself, Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter? It’s soul-shaking to question yourself this way, but it needs to be done”
“Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one that feels unsatisfied with life.”
“That’s not true, cousin, 4 out of 5 people suffer from the “Is This All There Is” syndrome.”
My cousin pondered that statistic and said:
“I wonder if I’m the ONE that Enjoys it?”
I think once one reaches a certain age, it’s normal to have regrets. And I for one, am terrified of the grim reaper!
An interesting quote I found, don’t know the author.
In The End: We only regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.
Dave delves deep into socialogical mores and his take on modern men and women’s questioning of their lives upon reaching their senior years in life. “Is This All There Is” is his latest blog and armed with a glass or two of his favorite beer, tries to pull his cousin up from depression. Decades ago, singer Peggy Lee musically addressed the question. Dave does it with wit.
“Is This All There Is” is the lament of people who are disillusioned with life. As the Peggy Lee song goes:
All you can do is, “Break out the booze and have a ball”.
This IS all there is…..There ain’t no more…….but after this, is peace, no pain, no worries, no problems, no nothing………….”to be, or not to be”
Between birth and death there is the in-between. This is the period we have to make the most of!
Yes cousin this is all there is, I look forward to the after life where I can get the answers to all the unanswered questions. I know it will be too late but I will know where to invest my money if I get to come back reincarnated
The journey of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
What you see depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.
Everyone has a different viewpoint.