There's No Pressure In Life There's no pressure in life That's the biggest lie Personally, I fell for it sooo bad Pressure to achieve Brought me to my knees Because at the root of it, WHY this urge to achieve? Only reading the Bible made me realize this: To feel loved. To feel like you belong. To feel validated. It is not true that it is for "yourself", that you want to achieve stuff for "yourself". "I want to achieve that for me, to feel fulfilled" Deep down, there's a vulnerability. A wound of rejection. (But I'll come back to that later) Deep down, you think you're not enough if you don't achieve this thing. Which is not true. That's the wound, right here. You can engage in this achievement behavior. It will never satisfy. Only love can heal the wound. And the praise you get from achieving stuff is not love. Even if you confuse it for it. Being praised only makes you think positive thoughts about yourself, comforts you in your own "value". Because deep down, you needed people to "validate" this value just to... allow yourself to think those positive thoughts about yourself... How crazy! It'll never be enough as long as you live by this narrative. And of course, we really don't want to admit it. Pride blinds us to it in ourselves : "no no, I live for myself, not for others, I don't care what people think" ALL THE WHILE there's this imaginary judge in your mind constantly evaluating, without you even noticing, how "good" you're doing in life based on criteria that are all... *societal*! See the total contradiction here? Only love can heal the wound (of rejection) that created this need (for validation). And as crazy as it may sound (I know), love is found in Jesus/the Bible. From reading a book. How crazy. I still can't wrap my head around it... This wound you didn't know you had is being healed. But now, what wound of rejection am I really talking about? We all experienced more or less dramatic human rejection in life. Parents, friends, strangers. And of course it plays a big part in this wound. But at the root of this vulnerability in the first place was having lived cut off from God all your life. That's where the emptiness comes from, the need to prove, to achieve, the need to find a partner, the need to climb the social ladder...etc. All those itchy needs that you thought were "normal" and never questionned because shared by 99% of people. And by finding God, you realize this is not normal. It is dysfunctional. And your need for others' approval -- which is not love -- disappears. That's when you finally understand this foreign and foggy concept of the Fall of man, the story of Adam and Eve and the place of Jesus in all that: You were cut off from God's love and Jesus came to reestablish this connection. This is so deep. It summarizes perfectly so many (including mine) people's spiritual journey! Finally understanding that it all boils down to the need for love. Living all your life in search for it and then finding it through Jesus. And coming back to God. Because God *is* love.