Acharya Prashant addresses a question about facing the fear of pain when trying to increase one's efforts. He begins by emphasizing that one cannot put effort towards just anything and expect the process to be sound and healthy. The crucial factor is the purpose behind the effort. Using the questioner's example of going to the gym, he explains that the reason for high dropout rates is that people do not really know why they are there. This lack of clarity of purpose leads to demotivation and a lack of energy. Gyms are aware of this and try to lock customers into long-term memberships. He elaborates that if one has a compelling and beautiful goal, the goal itself provides the energy and keeps one on track, making it impossible to drop out. Without a sublime goal, striving becomes very difficult, which is why most people find themselves short of energy and enthusiasm. This is also the reason most resolutions go unfulfilled. At the moment of making a resolution, it appears clean and straightforward, but a few days later, the mind is elsewhere because the action does not arise from one's deepest inner clarity. Most of our actions, he states, are a result of external influences rather than inner clarity. If you can be influenced to start something, like joining a gym, you can be just as easily influenced to stop. One wave sweeps you in, and another sweeps you out. This applies to many aspects of life, such as enrolling in a course, entering a relationship, or taking a job. This results in a random life with no root within, which he calls the "myth of life," lived in a perpetually drugged condition. He questions whether our desires are even our own. If life is just a sequence of actions aimed at fulfilling desires, is that life truly ours? He brings in the Vedantic perspective, where the ultimate Truth is called the Self. He finds it intriguing that Truth and Self are equated. If there is no unconditioned Self within, then the entire life is based on falseness. He concludes by suggesting that many of our life choices, like marriage, are made without clarity, as if one is drugged and wedded, which is why people often feel tired of their situations later on.
