Comfort

The warmth was encompassing. Comfort surrounded. Lazy muscles retired. The strain on the neck faded for the first time that day. Stress was fleeting. Comfort was such that one couldn’t even feel their body anymore. No pain, no pleasure, just being. Comfort was such that the brain didn’t want to think. The warmth eased thoughts away. Thinking was too much work.

One rarely feels these things. Lives are made up of one stressful event after another. It is how people measure time. Time is marked by years, sure. But one remembers things because so and so died that year. The car accident happened, so one remembers the graduation party that happened shortly after that, because their arm was in a cast. It may have been the year 1995, but the numbers themselves are meaningless. It is what happened during that year that makes it important.

One rarely hears another mark a passage of time because they were so relaxed, it was notable.

With age, this comfort thing becomes important. It makes itself known so infrequently. Muscles are sore and joints ache. The strength to rise easily left long ago. Even the mind causes discomfort. Trying to remember things long ago becomes taxing.

Even knowing this somewhere in the subconscious doesn’t change one’s behaviors. The work still needs to be done. That gadget still needs to be bought. Braces don’t pay for themselves. People work so hard to get one next thing.

In reality, they search for the long sought after comfort as well. It is just in another form. One seeks the comfort of living comfortably financially. Making ends meet is sure to relieve one’s mind. But where is comfort of one’s mind without the comfort of one’s body? Nowhere. Humanity pushes and pushes until one can’t push anymore.

Diligence. Persistence. Tenacity. All words that are looked upon favorably. And truly they are positive traits. But with them comes others. Tunnel Vision. Obstinate. Static. Simply put, unchanging. Unflinching drive.

What happens to life when one looks diligently ahead, with tunnel vision? It passes by. It floats by unnoticed, until old age approaches and one has time to look back. Now they see all the missed opportunities. Now they see the worth of the small things. Now they strive for something different.

They strive for the encompassing warmth. They let their muscles relax. The strain on their neck is finally released. They sought to not feel, to not think. They sought to do no work. In the end they finally ended up with what they hunted.

Comfort surrounded.