Acceleration vs. Velocity
When you are in a car and going 70mph, you are moving at around the top speed of the world’s fast animal. Once you reach that speed — you hardly notice. When we’re not mindful, driving in a car at a high speed can be just as eventful as the evening scroll of your social media. Uneventful and an auto-pilot. However, in the initial acceleration to 70 mph, you feel it. And you must be engaged to do so safely. No madman ever changes the music while going 0–60. It’s a thrill, and you feel it in your entire body and soul.
The same applies to our everyday life. When things are going well, we don’t feel it. We just allow the days to continue as they are. When you’ve had a restful day, a swig of Gatorade is just that — a swig of Gatorade. When we juxtapose this against a months-long stay in the hospital — a “regular” day is heaven-sent, and all we could have possibly hoped for. After exercise to the point of exhaustion, a cold drink satiates not just your body but your soul. I consider this the acceleration of life, the juxtaposition of what was and now what is is so important. If you’re making $70,000 a year, and get a raise to $75,000, it may warrant a minor celebration. To go from broke to $75,000 a year is utterly life-changing.
The moments that we cherish most are those of acceleration. Some happen organically and are dictated by nature, others we can inject into our own life. By accelerating, we are able to obtain more elevated states of equanimity and gratitude. Transcendence through intensity.
It’s important to note that while the acceleration in our life is most notable, and most craved. The Hedonic Treadmill gets the best of most of us. The Hedonic Treadmill is this concept that after major improvements in life, we return to sort of this baseline level of happiness and well-being. It may be slightly higher than before, but will drop off from the euphoric state that occured at the peak of the acceleration. Think when a direly sick patient makes a full-recovery. Oftentimes it is kumbaya for a few weeks, and snoozing the alarm two months later. What this tells me is we need to be more grateful for our velocity. You don’t feel it, but you are moving, and there is no problem with rolling down the window and feeling the wind as you go. If you live only for the big-wins, the accelerated moments of life, you will struggle to know what peace is when you are simply moving along at a given velocity. All things in life with balance. If you are always accelerating, you will quickly be at an unmanageable 100+mph, where as if you never accelerate, you’ll be going too slow to ever get to a destination or even create a good breeze.
