A Small Measure of Peace

There comes a point, often after years of striving, when the summit you’ve chased finally lies beneath your feet, instead of elation, you feel a strange stillness. The corner office, the passport filled with stamps, latest gadgets, the many comforts of life you now take for granted that once seemed a distant dream, they’re all here. Tangible and earned. Yet somewhere in the quiet between the achievements, a question begins to stir, 'Was this what I was really seeking?' 

For years, the world’s symbols of success guided your direction. The long hours, the missed moments of life, nothing more than fleeting conversations with near and dear, and the many sacrifices of yourself and those close to you, they were all part of the price agreed upon silently and implicitly. You told yourself that meaning would arrive at the destination, that peace would wait patiently at the end of accomplishment. Now that you’ve arrived, you find that the peace demands something deeper, an honest introspection. 

This is in no way a failed journey, but this is an awakening that comes when you finally arrive where you were meant to reach. The crisis you feel is not to break you down, but to make you shed some things you've been carrying for long. The old aspirations losing their hold because they no longer fit the person you’ve become. You’ve seen enough of the world to know that titles and triumphs don’t fill the quiet of your soul. You’re beginning to understand that meaning doesn’t come from climbing higher, but from standing still with purpose, from creating, connecting, and living in alignment with what feels true, not what looks impressive. 

Perhaps this is the real destination of every driven life: to reach the peak, look around, and realize that the climb itself was never about just reaching this peak, but about discovering who you have become along the way. 

(From the poem If by Rudyard Kipling)


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