The Great Restlessness

Well, restlessness is  a palpable, throbbing entity that lives with us almost all the time. It keeps you awake till the wee hours, is responsible for agitated gestures, a sense of loneliness and depression and the anxiety that keeps you moving from place to place, seeking distraction.
You are too restless to settle down to a good sleep- surfing, scouting, playing, reading, chatting! Most of the time you feel lonely and anxious. You feel there is a good life waiting; you just don't know how to reach it. You feel that you should be doing something else; you just don't know what it is! You feel you are always waiting for life to happen, but it keeps slipping from your grasp. It's a feeling of missing out on something undefined!
Restlessness is not just felt by the poor or the unaccomplished. It is also a reality faced by the powerful and the successful. It explains why a powerful man would risk  all for sporadic, short bursts of positivity through the number of women he can influence and lure. It explains why extra-marital affairs happen. It is responsible for the mental games people play, seeking small victories. And yet none of these are solutions. At best, these are methods that distract attention for a while from the real issue, and possibly increase the restlessness even more. And so it becomes a vicious circle!
This restlessness is the scourge of our times... Rapid development in technology and exposure to a lacquered world that seems all too real and within reach, give rise to unrealistic and even-increasing expectations. Surrounded by images of idealistic lives being lived else where, we tend to ignore reality and our own limitations, feeling entitled to own the idealistic possibilities. The gap between expectation and reality is what causes the great restlessness.
It is important that we take stock of our reality and make an honest assessment of our capabilities. Keeping these in mind, we must plan and aim a little beyond to what we are capable of. One can keep raising the bar as one goes along. Everyone cannot have everything; but what we can have is good enough, if we could just focus on and revel in it.