Under Pressure

From the time we are born we are under pressure. Pressure from gravity, pressure in our blood and our heart, and as we grow pressure from the outside world. Very few escape it. It doesn’t matter what environment we grow up in, what geographical region, what race, what religion what anything. We are bombarded with pressure right out of the gate, and it gets worse the older we get. We play as children, mindless of the greater pressures that are coming. We still though are under the pressure of nature; our bones hurt as they grow, we lose teeth, and we are bound by our parents or guardian’s law if you will. They, along with “public” schools, dictate most of what we learn. Every environment creating its own pressures. It may be poverty, it may be religion, it may be wars, it may be money, it may be abuse, it may be, the list goes on and on and on. It’s not doom and gloom, it’s just reality. From the time we are born till the time we die we are constantly facing pressures from all sorts of variables. Pressures that steal our time, our health, our sanity, our freedom.

We are a pretty amazing creature that we endure all that we do. We grow technologically and use that to advance our species; much to our benefit and much to our demise. We marvel at the perfect environment on our planet that sustains life. We marvel at the vastness of our own Milky Way Galaxy and the seemingly endlessness of space. We learn more and more about the human body and the inner workings of our own mortality. People are living longer, healthier lives; but there is a cost. Pressure. We cannot control nature, we cannot control death, and as much as we try and control life the pressure builds in a plethora of venues in each and every one of us. But in spite of all the pressure, all the minor and major implosions and explosions, we press on. We are a resilient species. We are getting smarter faster. But pressures don’t escape us. They may be pressurized, held at bay, released or even blown but from each instance we change, we adapt, we overcome. We take off one pressure gauge and then put a new one on and continue on the journey, it’s become normal. Some handle this with some ease; some don’t far so well. Our brains and bodies handle pressure unique to oneself. Just as our journey is our own and not anyone else’s, so is the path from pressure and blessing our own as well. It’s easy to blame this, that, them or it, but in truth no matter the pain or the gain, is we control the gauges. If we didn’t, we would just be puppets on a string.

Life starts inside a safe place, warm, soft, comforting. We hear, we feel, we grow before we ever take a breath. And then we are thrust into a world of brightness, of loud noises of things we can’t understand. But our little brains go to work deciphering all the things around us. A mini supercomputer preparing us for the world we live in, no matter what that world is. Each and every experience shapes us into a toddler, a teenager, a young adult, middle age and then becoming elderly; back to start the process all over again. Through genetics we are passed what our parents are for the most part. We may have bad hearing, we may have an athletic body, we may be good in math or English and we may dislike geometry and opera. But that is what makes us all extremely unique. And in each breath, in each step we take, we learn about life, the pressures, the balances, and the freedoms that the universe supplies us with. Pressure isn’t always a bad thing, sometimes pressures are good, sometimes freedoms are bad; it all comes down to each unique brain in that unique time and how we respond to each unique choice. Much of the time we do this without deep rooted thinking, we just do it. Yet, sometimes, we can slow the process down, become aware and make choices that alleviates certain pressures. And sometimes we choose to open the valves and boost that pressure. The choice no matter how dire, how exciting, how awful, how exuberant ultimately are our own. That is what I wrestle with daily. Making the righteous choices for myself that serves others and still meets my needs while the world is trying to pressure cook me from the outside. The older I get the more experience and wisdom I gain to help me with this endeavor, but the journey is arduous as well as euphoric. How’s your journey? Are you aware of where you have been and where you are going or are you just going through the motions. Wherever you are is your journey and hopefully our paths may cross and we will sit by the fire and tell our stories of but a moment or of a lifetime.