At what point in your life does the World crush your spirit?

Question

From birth, your life is filled with an infintessimal amount of possibilities. At what point does the reality of the world crash down upon you, crushing your spirit.

Answer 1

WHEN YOU HAVE TO BURY YOUR OWN CHILD

Answer 2

From the moment you are born it starts with little infinitesimal crushes.

When does it all come crashing down? If you are lucky, never. The crush never becomes more than another little fly that you can easily swat away.

For many people, quite often. There is no single point, it happens again and again. What matters, though, is speed of recovery. The sooner you can pick yourself up and come out fighting, the better you are adapted to life. And sad to say, practice makes perfect. (in a perverse way, that suggests that the more practice you get, the luckier you are....)

An additional thought: there are people who survived the holocaust whose spirit was not crushed then and will not be crushed now. But they are the lucky ones and they know it. I have visited Auschwitz and what struck me to the core was that most people survived for around 2 months. There are extreme situations which would crush anybody's spirit. Most of us are fortunate not to have to encounter them.

Answer 3

When you open your eyes and see reality for the first time. This can happen to anyone at anytime. Some people go their whole lives without ever truly seeing the world for what it is.

The good news is, when you see how harsh reality can be and have your spirit crushed it isn't the end of the world. Hitting bottom can be quite liberating. Like a Chuck Palahniuk novel, it's only after we've lost everything, that we're free to do anything.

Answer 4

I read all the answers and I was really happy - most people said the world did not crush their spirit - way to go - YAers!

I want to add to the chorus - I refuse to let the world crush my spirit. Even though I am 54 years old - I am still innocent and optimisitc - I mean I have a young spirit - that I still have a zest for life - for the journey, the thrill, the adventure - for whatever will come my way and whatever I decide to go after.

Answer 5

for me it was when the stress of working for the prison service triggered a nervous breakdown..... it's pretty spirit crushing to have a job that u love, and then watch it all go ti*s-up within the space of about 3 months...... i was 25 when that happened, and everything that I'd worked hard to achieve seemed to be gone.... thankfully i managed to get past the depression, but i don't think I'll ever regain the confidence that i once had....... and as a general observation, I've noticed quite a few people in their mid 20's go through a period of stress / depression.... i guess it's to do with realising that u are not immortal, most kids seem to think that they're gonna live forever and change the world, so it;s quite a wake-up call when u realise that your life is passing by quite quickly, and that a lot of the time u have to compromise on your dreams......

Answer 6

It shouldn't at all, depending on how you live your life and with whom.

I should think going by the rule of "treating others as you would have them treat you", is certainly a good start.

Loving, respecting and supporting your family (immediate as well as relatives). Doing the same, as much as you can, for your friends.

Being slow to anger, and quick to forgive, so avoiding any unnecessary stresses.

Finding your soulmate, you both being there for each other in every way.

Believing in some kind of religion is good for the soul. Healthy eating (treating yourself too of course) and exercising is good.

Believing yourself, your abilities, your talents, you're just as special as anyone else.

Your first feeling/thought is the correct one. The more you trust and act upon your intuition is the stronger it will get. It could just save your life one day.

Doing everything you pursue to the best of your ability - a good day's work for a good day's pay.

Keeping the above in mind as you go along, should eliminate (or at least reduce) the risk of you being crushed.

Answer 7

Did you really mean "infinitessimal"?

"Infinite" would have been more cheering.

The world threatens to crush me when, once more, the mindless hordes stampede and trample.

When the level of debate is abysmal, but the tone vehement if not vitriolic.

When Christmas starts, beyond all reason and hope, even earlier than before.

When terrorism always makes the news, when we are all facing much, much bigger risks, which do not.

There's not a shortage of contenders.

Never mind: having run out of supplies of hope, I've quietly moved beyond despair and am employing resignation and black humour, of which I appear to have adequate reserves.

Answer 8

When you see a homeless man sleeping on the side of the road, a child starving in Africa, hear on the news that another child died at the hands of thier mother, when you hear about the child sex slave industry, and so much more. Even though realizing there are so many people who need help and realizing there is so much bad in the world and even though that crushes my spirit it inspires me to do my part.

Answer 9

Possibly from birth or even before birth. For me 3 yrs old . when the manipulation and control instilled on you by family and upbringing + education begins to change the way you truly are. programming. You never had a chance!! none of us did.

Answer 10

I don't think for me that it is so much the world crushing my spirit, but rather me losing perspective on life.

The thing that makes me the darkest and bleakest is losing someone... a physical death, the end of a love affair... I grieve too deeply because there is so much still in me that I can't live with. But somehow, I'm still here... *grin*

Answer 11

The World only crushes your spirit if you allow it to. Possibilities are endless, whether you avail yourself of the is another thing.