Question:
Spot on response. Thank you for enlightening and expanding deeper on that thought. It’s definitely a daily battle till 120. I viewed this lifestyle (observant) like being a doctor. For instance, you’re a little kid and you decided to become a doctor (one day). You loved the study of biology and results in grades were blasting. You get into your senior years and done your best to pass your SAT score and results didn’t disappoint. You entered college and began the process of hard core work. You opened yourself an office and reached the real deal – Healing people. You’ve tried for the 1st year, 2nd, and maybe 3rd and start to see that this job isn’t for you. People say why? How could you throw away something that you worked so hard for? The amount of study, the amount of money you make daily… so on and so fourth. The doctor says the job is too much pressure. The amount of people with sickness that have a lifelong sickness that can’t get healed / telling people that they only have a short period of time to life. It’s come to a point that if I continue doing this job my own health (from pressure + nerves) is at risk. In other words, childhood years, teenage years, and a few years of adulthood years of being a doctor concluded. It didn’t seem to be this way until he got deeper into his path. This is how I was nervous that my religious (future path may look like). You’ve a dream and you work to get far. You get married and pressure is on. You learn and you practice. One day, you feel that it’s very hard, if only I knew earlier the amount of pressure – And g-d forbid you let go. You’ve explained something a little different. It’s a life long goal. The harder your work the better you become and the’re truly ain’t no end of effort until 120. There can and can’t be pressure. Pressure CAN during the hardship of hard work and CAN’T be pressure because there’s always space and time to improve – What’s the rush, take your time based on your own person level. No one is born perfect for we’re in this work to only perfect Thank you. Yes, please share.
Answer:
Your parable is nice, and you are now touching on an important point that needs clarifying. Yes, in order to reach a goal we need hard work. Becoming a doctor, and working as a doctor is hard work, physically and emotionally. Part of being successful at the job though, is managing the psychological pressure that the job has. A person that can’t take the pressure of the long hours, has to cut back to a level that he/she can endure and sustain. A doctor that overworks, and causes himself to burn out is not helping society by overworking, rather hurting himself and eventually his patients, because he will eventually stop serving them. He has to cut back on his hours, learn to proper psychological approach to dealing with other people’s problems, that it should not negatively effect himself, and set himself up in a way that is sustainable. In Judaism too, in our climb to personal perfection, H-shem does not want us to jump too quickly too fast. The Rabbis give an example of a person that is trying to run up a ladder two steps at a time… eventually he will cause himself to trip and fall down the ladder, and possibly break his neck…. You have to cimb at a pace that is sustainable for you, and this is another reason why you need a personal mentor. To make sure that you don’t take on too much, and that it be done in the correct fashion. A football coach is not going to let his charges do too much exercise, because it will pull their muscles.
Another important point. Part of Judaism is happiness, and positivity. Realizing, how fortunate we are, and doing everything that we do, in a happy way, with an appreciation for what we are doing. It is something that has to be learned and practiced. Serving H-shem with happiness, is a higher form of service, because it makes our inner relationship with H-shem stronger, it releases pressure, and makes us a more positive person. This though, will have to be saved for a different time, as we can’t conquer Rome in one day.
.Have a good Shabbos
