Anxiety & Fear
Put Your Glass Down
Even before the cup runneth over
First, a shout-out to my fellow Medium writer and photography enthusiast, kasey sparks, who kindly agreed to write on this topic together after viewing a mindful video on Instagram, for which I later found on YouTube.
The monochrome video showed a college teacher standing in front of his classroom students. He was holding a glass of water in his hand. And he asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?”
Responses varied from eight to sixteen ounces.
Then, the teacher replied, “The absolute weight of the glass of water doesn’t matter.”
He continued, “Hold it for a minute — no problem. Keep holding it for an hour and your arm will feel sore. Hold it all day long and your arm will feel numb and paralyzed. The weight of the glass hasn’t changed. But the longer you hold on to it, the heavier it becomes.”
At this point, I thought I knew where this teacher was going with his lesson. His point was simple.
You’re weak! Get some muscles!
No, that’s not what the teacher said. He said,
“The stresses and worries of life are like this glass of water. If you think about them for a short while, you’ll be fine. Think about them for a while longer, they begin to hurt. Think about them all day long or longer, you will feel paralyzed.”
And scared sh*t of dropping the glass.
Well, I added that one.
But the teacher ends with “Put the glass down.” And normally, you’d be inspired by that compassionate message and feel inspired for the rest of the day…
…unless you’re me. After the euphoric moment, my monkey mind was going 100 miles an hour.
When do I know to put it down? Where do I put it down? What if I’m competing with someone on how long I can keep holding it? Can I change hands, or is that cheating? Can I ask or pay someone to hold it while I rest my arm? Can I transfer the water into a paper cup?
And so on. I don’t mean to disagree with the teacher. I genuinely agree. But for the sake of argument, I’d like to be Advocatus Diaboli — play devil’s advocate. Why? My monkey mind is warped. But please stay and indulge.
Let’s return to my earlier statement: Scared sh*t of dropping the glass.
It’s fear. Logically, we know we should put the heavy glass down. We know we should leave our miserable dead-end jobs. We know we should leave our abusive partners. We know we should make a paradigm shift in our empty, unfulfilling lives.
But we feel we’ve past the point of no return.
Many of us feel it’s futile to change. Or worse.
We fear change itself. We fear change more than the consequences of sticking with the status quo. We fear change more than prolonging the pain we’re feeling. We fear change more than the prospect of living a meaningless life.
Or we fear letting go and watching the glass drop to the floor. We don’t see any table to rest our glass. We don’t know where to put it down. Who will look after our worries?
So, we hold on to our glass. We hold on so desperately as if our lives depend on it.
Ay, there’s the rub.
Our lives depend on our living true to ourselves, which in turn relies on our willingness and courage to put our glass down…
whenever, wherever, and however.
If at first you can’t put it down, take a moment to breathe and be mindful. Change hands — be flexible. Ask someone to hold your glass until you regain strength — get support. Transfer the water to a paper cup — think outside the box.
Or just put your glass down.
And please remember to visit kasey sparks! This is her take on the same topic of putting the glass down — just off the press!
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