For the past few weeks, I have been trying to analyze various events in my life; and understand how they correspond to my expectations and beliefs. Through this, I’ve realized that most fundamental truths of life are often contradictory to our expectations as humans.
Such truths always seem opposite to our logic or paradoxical to our beliefs; nevertheless, they are constantly proven to be true by most experiences that we go through. Most of these facts/truths are usually obvious, however, they still remain strange to many people. Therefore, such subtle truths are perhaps the paradoxes of life that make it worthwhile.
The following are examples of paradoxes in life that I found interesting to share with you;
1. Change is the only constant.
In life, everything often changes or evolves in some way. Consequently, our only option as humans is to embrace it rather than resist it.
2. The only certainty is that nothing is ever certain
There is always no telling exactly what the future might become. The best we can always do is make guesses and do our best to shape the future through our present actions and thoughts.
3. The more you pursue happiness, the more unhappy you become.
This usually seems quite the opposite of what we believe. However, the real truth is that the pursuit of happiness makes you unhappy. Most people normally expect happiness to come from something external. Therefore, they always end up disappointed in their pursuit of the same.
True happiness comes from within, and the sooner we realize this, the happier we become.
4. The more you try to keep someone close, the more you’ll push them away
Typically, people tend to keep those they love close. However, the urge to keep someone closer tends to push them further away as they feel obligated to be close to you. Through this, feelings often lose meaning, and the relationship ultimately collapses.
Therefore, this implies the importance of freedom and boundaries in any relationship.
5. The more available something is, the less you will want it.
We normally have a strong scarcity bias; thus, we tend to assume that scarcity equals value and that things that are in abundance aren’t valuable. However, this logic is always flawed and far from the truth.
6. The more choices we have, the less satisfied we are with each one.
When there are more options to choose from, we tend to have difficulty deciding what we want. Therefore, we become dissatisfied with any choice that we make.
7. The more connected we get, the more disconnected we feel.
Social media has revolutionized how we communicate in the modern century. Despite keeping us in constant communication with our friends and family, it has limited our face-to-face interaction.
Consequently, this has left most people feeling isolated and depressed.
8. Failure often leads to success.
This is a common paradox of life; ‘the more you fail, the more likely you are to succeed.’ A lot of successful people in human history have often failed severally prior to their successes. Failing helps us learn and improve, thus, leading to success.
9. The more something scares you, the more you should do it.
Normally, those things that we are scared of or fear, such as fear of starting a business, speaking in public, approaching new people, etc., often can bring significant change in our lives if we try them.
The closer we get and act on our fears, the smaller they become. Thus, people should have the courage to indulge in the things that scare them.
10. The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know.
Life often has many blind spots, and the more we learn, the more we realize that there is so much that we don’t know. This even makes life more interesting.
“The more I learn, the less I realize I know.” – Socrates.
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