Sharpening the Edge of Fulfillment: Why Embracing Tension is Key to a Meaningful Life

Viktor Frankl, the Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor, said,

“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.”

We falsely think we want no stress.

If you ask people what they would do if they won the lottery, the vast majority would answer something along the lines of,

“I’d quit my job and do nothing.”

We’re not wired to do nothing.

We have an intrinsic desire to cultivate meaning in our lives.

Meaning does not flow from doing nothing.

Meaning flows from connecting with ones calling, taking action on that calling, and sharing your creation with the world.

Pursuing a calling is hard whether writing, sculpting, entrepreneurship, or philanthropy.

It’s filled with stress and responsibilities. It’s filled with discipline and tension.

But here’s something many don’t consider.