One imagines that the lows, the sinking feeling, that little step into depression which suddenly turns into a hurtling slide into the dumps, happen only when a person experiences failure, hurt, rejection and similar negative experiences. However, I notice that accomplishments tend to do the same. One might expect Roger Banister to have had a loud, cheerful party on the evening of breaking the 4-minute mile limit. Instead, he recollects that the effort left him feeling like an “exploded flashlight with no will to live.” He retired from racing three months later, at age 25. There is an emptiness that seizes some just when they accomplish something coveted. For some, that spins off into a persistent sinking feeling. I have returned to the room empty headed and confused after most marathon finishes. I decide that it is just pointless to go run a 42 km course. In a few weeks I am back again doing it. Out of habit perhaps.
So, is feeling low only about the negatives in life? It doesn’t appear so. Life could be after all meaningless. Man tries finding meaning. Look at it. How does it end? What does one amount to? It all turns dust. We strive, we live, we face situations.. only for time to turn us back into earth. The thought of this inevitable outcome is liberating.
Contested Realities 