Striving means devoting serious effort or energy to obtain something in the future.

The power of striving can help us focus our energy and reach goals in life. Striving to improve the quality of one’s life can e.g. be a strong motivation to get out of bed early and work out in the mourning or to make important yet often difficult changes in our work, diet, or relationships.

However, striving also means that we are away to some better version of something in the future. Thoughts like “If I get a promotion, then I’ll be respected at work” or “If I lose 20 pounds I’ll finally be attractive enough to find a partner” may be the result of dedicated striving.

But they can also give us a fixed idea or expectation about how things “should” be. These expectations may not be accurate and they can leave us vulnerable to feelings of disappointment in ourselves if we don’t obtain what we had striven for. So, to cope with this disappointment, we can practice the art of non-striving.

If you want to learn more about non-striving, then check out the tool: Non-Striving