#complacency

The evil one wants us to think of ourselves that we are already the sheep, and thus safe from God's judgment, so that we may sin in complacency. "Brothers: it is later than you think. Hasten, therefore, to do the work of God."

- Fr Seraphim Rose

One of the easiest ways to interrupt your own transformation is by letting one good moment convince you that your work is done.

Sometimes all it takes is temporary emotional satisfaction.

A moment of relief.

A brief feeling of validation.

One experience that makes your current reality feel comfortable enough to stay in.

And just like that, you forget.

You forget why you wanted to change.

You forget the version of yourself you were trying to leave behind.

You forget how long you tolerated patterns that kept you feeling stuck, limited, and disconnected from the life you knew you were capable of creating.

This is such a subtle trap because one good moment can feel exactly like real change.

Both can bring peace.

Both can create certainty.

Both can make it feel like something has shifted.

But real transformation is not determined by how you feel during one emotionally satisfying moment.

It is revealed by who you remain after that moment passes.

A single good moment can make your old reality feel acceptable again.

It can make the familiar feel inviting.

It can make you loosen your commitment to the new identity you were trying to stabilize because suddenly, there no longer seems to be urgency.

So you stop reinforcing the new self-concept.

You stop embodying the standards you were building.

You stop persisting.

And because your old identity has years of repetition behind it, it quietly takes its place again.

The same thoughts return.

The same emotional patterns repeat.

The same internal assumptions begin shaping your future all over again.

This is another reason people feel stuck.

Sometimes it is not because life became harder.

Sometimes it is because life became comfortable enough for them to stop changing.

I used to experience this myself.

I would have one moment that made me feel reassured, wanted, or emotionally fulfilled, and I would immediately treat that feeling as proof that everything had changed.

I would ease up.

I would stop doing the internal work.

Then I would find myself back in the same reality I had been trying to move beyond.

That taught me something important.

Do not let good moments decide your identity for you.

Let consistency decide.

Let your patterns decide.

Let the version of you that remains when the emotional high fades reveal what has actually changed.

A good moment is something to appreciate.

It is not something to build your conclusions on.

Keep going.

Be Content.

God has promised to never leave nor forsake us. So contentment in our circumstances is not mere complacency, but trusting God through it.

every individual's actions matter right now. we all contribute to what happens or what doesn't happen. so have some fucking courage to do the right thing and be on the good side of history.

P.S. an executive order isn't a law or rule. it's simply an announcement of the president's intentions. no one was actually ordered to do this.