Thu, 28 Mar, 2024

Life like A Headphone

By Suraj Prasai

Picture Courtesy: forbes.com

Life is complicated, isn’t it? But what makes it so?

When we were born, we were unaware. We did anything we liked without any restrictions or thoughts about the consequences. So what makes a child so carefree?

We all have seen children playing in a park. It seems like their life is so simple. They play throughout the day but don’t they have homework? They do but they don’t cry over it. They just finish their work. They are so chilled. So what is it that makes their life that simple? It’s, of course, their way of acting, behaving and living. They don’t think too hard, they just do it. And about the consequences, it’s not their problem. They have their parents to deal with it.

So what’s the difference between the child and us? It’s just that we are responsible for our actions, we have to deal with them but they don’t. They just cry. But we can learn from the kids. Life is complicated because we give more time thinking that it’s complicated instead of sorting them out. As we grow up we find more and more things to divert our attention to. We overthink, hold grudges, expect a lot from the life, live in the past and worry about the future. This is why our life gets complicated.

So, what about earphones? We put earphones in our pocket, but what happens after a minute or two? When we take them out, it gets tangled up. But have you ever wondered exactly why that happens? The scientists, after research, have found that this is all due to entropy. It means system always tend to move to a state of higher disorder for more stability. The simple way to understand is that there is only one way for a wire to be straight, but a massive number of ways it can get tangled.

I think that the life and the cords of the headphone have a similar fate. They all end up being complicated. About the issue of earphone getting tangled, someone said that “I've been using this for quite a while now and it really works if you tie them with the right amount of force, be it in your pocket or your bag.” But it is not as easy as it seems. Similarly, for a simple life, there is a need for goals. We should not let our thoughts and path to be diverted. Having a goal in life is wonderful, no complications, no fuss, just life. People who live in the moment and know how to be happy in every circumstance that comes their way lead very happy and simple lives. However, achieving this is not easy.

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” - Confucius