You look so stressed. Good good.

What is it about our culture that has created this attitude that the crazier you are, the cooler and more successful you’re considered.

If you run around like a madwoman, work way too many hours, check your email outside of work, preferably have a few kids which you somehow take care of too, hang out with friends, yadda yadda yadda, you are an inspiration to us all.

And those of us who do less than that, are frankly, less successful.

When I am feeling overwhelmed with my life, part of me wonders if it is during those overwhelming periods that I feel most alive, most accomplished. I wonder if, despite the pain of feeling like I’m about to have an ulcer, or maybe because of that oncoming ulcer, I know that I am finally living how I “should.”

Yikes.

How many of us are capable, within this culture, of working normal hours, doing normal things during our down time – like reading by a flickering flame in the evenings and going to sleep before midnight (of course) – without feeling like we’re wasting our lives away?

Basically, I think that if we aren’t stressing ourselves out, we sort of feel like failures.

Which is why it’s terrible you just spent time reading this blog post. :)

Image by Kai Hendry on flickr.