Something that most people have to live with every day is frustration. There are a lot of situations when this feeling is triggered, often related to when we didn’t achieve all of the goals that we set for a determined period or when we can’t find a way to do something.
This is a normal sensation, part of daily life and we just learn to slowly control it. Still, some people are unable to feel frustrated because they have something called ataraxy.
Ataraxy is similar to a state of mind, because it refers to a mind completely calmed, serene and unflappable. People with this condition aren’t capable of having their minds disturbed, by anything else as they don’t have any type of desire or need to improve their lives. They are described as apathetic, and strangely quiet.
This concept is highly related to philosophy, though it is a mental condition. It is used as a synonym of imperturbability when we don’t feel the need to beat our desires, that will find our pleasure, and eventually, complete joy.
Greek philosophy is all about finding full happiness, and there is a belief that when people get to this state of imperturbability, they have found all that they want for their life as ataraxy is the last stop in our soul journey. In philosophy, it is a good term, it is something to celebrate, but it can be something different in our modern times.
Now, ataraxy sounds awesome, who wouldn’t like to be frustration-free? Actually, it is a really bad condition. It holds people back because they don’t feel a need to be better, they are settled and confirmed, according to their standards. When someone suffers from this condition, they act like they don’t care about anything and it can interfere with every type of relationship the person has.
Usually, it is triggered after an injury in the head, such as a hit in the frontal part, or an ictus, ergo, an interruption of the brain’s blood circulation. People with ataraxy aren’t aware that they suffered from this syndrome, they slowly became less and less attached with their frustration, and feel more calm and okay with their state.
We as humans need frustration to achieve what we want, even though it is a negative feeling, it helps us move forward. There is no such thing as complete happiness, we will always want more, we will always want to be better.
