The Cost Of Being Reasonable
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We live in a world that’s obsessed with being reasonable.
Because reasonable makes sense. Reasonable can be explained. Even if things go poorly, reasonable can be defended.
We probably won’t regret reasonable. But not regretting something and actually liking it are two very different things.
It might be that we’re obsessed with reasonable because it’s safe. Because reasonable is predictable. Because reasonable doesn’t make anyone feel uncomfortable. Because it’s a way to keep ourselves protected even though parts of who we are might be dying a little bit day after day.
For most of our lives, it feels like we’ve been preached reasonable above everything else. In some ways, our lives have become monuments to reasonable. We have lived our days worshiping the God’s of reasonable because they surround us everywhere we look.
The stable job with benefits. The secure lifestyle. The commonly accepted life trajectory. Things that other people can look at and think “Yeah, that’s reasonable. John’s a reasonable guy living a reasonable life.”
And sometimes, I wonder if anything really matters besides being reasonable. The pursuit of money is reasonable. Conforming is reasonable. Being safe is reasonable. Reasonable generally draws praise, or at the very least, it helps us avoid being singled out and criticized.
And because of this, reasonable is often easy.
But I want to believe that non-reasonable things matter and are important.
- That thing we love but isn’t realistic according to most people
- That idea we had that doesn’t seem practical right now
- That urge to do something that would take us out of the collective comfort zone
- That chance we desperately want to take that will probably lead to failure and disappointment
I would like to believe that the things we feel and want and think about that aren’t necessarily reasonable have value and are worth it.
But if I’ve learned anything it’s that we have to sacrifice for the unreasonable things we want to pursue.
Because so often, the world tells us that these things are not important. These unreasonable things should be left alone. They are dangerous and won’t ever work out.
Which is why reasonable wins the vast majority of the time.
But there’s also a cost for being reasonable. There are things that reasonable takes away from us. And perhaps the biggest is that when we’re living a reasonable life, there’s not much room for anything else. Reasonable can stifle so many beautiful things. Reasonable can cost us the ability to find out whether or not we can make unreasonable work. Whether or not we can take a chance and succeed in spite of what reasonable says.
The cost of being reasonable is losing all the wonderful unreasonable things that call out to us and tantalize us. That capture our imagination. That excite us. That keep us awake at night wondering.
And for everything we have to sacrifice in the name of unreasonable pursuits, missing out on those wonderful things in the name of being reasonable might be the greatest sacrifice of all.
