On Excitement

We seem to love excitement, largely because we’re drawn to “feeling good.” Yet real life has ups and downs. Unable to experience ups and downs without overreacting, we try to hold the good and avoid the bad. To fill the void, we seek excitement. But the energy that fuels excitement comes from the outside world, which means it needs to be constantly replenished (from the outside) to keep feeling “good.” But this dulls our response to all life, a form of avoidance strategy for being truly alive. When the fuel stops, we’re “down.”