Judgement Day

If we can frame all of our failures and follies in the service of some future success, when exactly is our trial date? When will we reap the benefits of our struggles? When will we know for certain whether or not our sacrifices were made in vain?

There is no judgement day. There is no moment more heavily weighted than the others. Our lives are not measured by where we end up, rather by the indivisible string of nows, inextricably linked, yet undeniably and independently significant. 

If this instant is just as meaningful as that in which we cross the finish line, then why struggle unproportionally for something that is impermanent? Why do we make sacrifices in order to gain back exactly the thing we have just surrendered?

Perhaps struggle is not synonymous with ill-being, and sacrifice is not a net loss. Perhaps, paradoxically, the true utility of the pursuit of future success, is not in obtaining that success, but in giving us a direction to move in. As long as it is the correct direction, that is.

Judgement day is every day, but it doesn’t mean that we should abandon our goals for hedonic pleasures. This idea should, however, help us to live with a greater urgency–an urgency to recalibrate our aim, and an urgency to serve what we feel is worth serving.