The Transitory Nature Of Being

Nothing lasts forever, and change is our only constant. 

The impermanence of experience most commonly manifests within the psyche in one of two ways. The first is when someone recognizes that life is transitory and responds by engaging in pure revelry. It is generally an experience that primarily encompasses carousing and debaucherous activities because there is no certainty about how long life will last. 

We have all seen YouTube videos where someone yells "YOLO" (i.e., you only live once) prior to engaging in some high-risk stunt, usually resulting in injury. It is a life driven by excess and avoids the virtue of patience, perhaps verging on the trajectory of a death wish.

The second most common way that impermanence's nature exhibits itself in one's psyche is through melancholic apathy. "What's the point of engaging if it will all go away someday?" one may ask. This route avoids all risk, which, as it turns out, is perhaps riskier as it is the opposite of a life lived to fulfillment. 

It is equal in its lack of responsibility and, at the same time, exemplifies a prominent level of fearfulness that prevents consumption, mobility, and willpower.

These common attitudes are both incomplete. They are representative of "black or white" or "all or nothing" thinking. Securing one's fate requires an understanding that risk and patience have equal value. 

There is no service in consuming to the point that one's self burns out. At the same time, lamenting solely for lamenting's sake is feeding a whole different dragon that only brings about despair. So, "what's the solution?" you may ask. 

I encourage you to consider the breadth of your habits. Rehabilitate the habits in your life that are incongruent with the person you wish to become. 

In addition, build tolerance for the habits that, seemingly annoying they may be, are genuinely innocuous. You will discover what it means to master the transitory nature of being through these practices.