Life on the Treadmill
I told a friend recently I felt like my life has become a treadmill. They responded that their life is so hectic and ever-changing that they wouldn’t mind a treadmill life. They said it as if it would be a break away from busy-ness.
I don’t think they really understand the feeling of a treadmill life. They were thinking comfort, consistency, rest.
But when every day feels very much the same as the last, they blend together in such a way that you forget you’re living at all. You stop seeing days, weeks, months. Everything is a blur.
Live a whole year on this treadmill, it’s almost like at the end of the year, someone takes all 365 (or 366) days, and smashes them together into one messy sandwich.
Then there’s the fact that being on a treadmill is exhausting. Sure, it can be nice to walk or run on a treadmill for a little while. Relaxing exercise, sheltered from the elements, in a nice air conditioned building.
But spend a few hours on a treadmill and you’ll be changing your tune. Now imagine days, weeks, months, years… When you’re living on a treadmill, sure, the scenery is always the same. But also, you never get to stop. The treadmill keeps going and going. Until you burn out, or it does.
But of course the treadmill of life doesn’t break down. It outlasts you, me, all of life.
A treadmill life is not a break.
It’s a hell of its own.