Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could suddenly live our lives with no anxiety at all and no ambiguity?

We would fulfill the preachers’ cry that demands we must not worry and that we should not doubt, that we should always be at peace and clear on what is true and not true. Black and white in our thoughts and feelings.

But this is bound to keep us in a place of constant guilt because of frequent failure because it is not realistic. It does not respect the human predicament.

In his book, “Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life”, Hollis says,

“Clearly, psychological or spiritual development always requires a greater capacity in us for the toleration of anxiety and ambiguity. The capacity to accept this troubled state, abide it, and commit to life, is the moral measure of our maturity.”

So it’s okay to feel anxiety. It’s okay to experience ambiguity. It’s how we deal with it that matters. This is what makes us grow and mature.