Life’s a funny old thing. One moment, you’re careening through the world, feeling on top of it all. And the next, you’re frustrated—then confused by your frustration, then angry that your frustration is confusing you.

It feels like a sigh too big for any living being to manage. An overflowing of muchness, created by over-consuming suchness. Thank goodness, I often say, that we have evolved to (mostly) find this living thing normal. That we can walk around with the general sense that this is how things are, and that we may actually have it all under control.

Indeed, the luckiest of us may feel like we have everything under control. Relationships are healthy, work is good, health is sufficient, and levels of satisfaction are high—circus performers balancing spinning plates with deft nonchalance, in a flow state that feels light and boundless.

Life getting too much is not about all the plates crashing down—that would be more akin to a breakdown or a complete collapse. Rather, it’s the moment you become aware of all the spinning. You look around and cannot help but think: How on earth is this happening? How are all these separate entities being supported and suspended in space—completely independent, yet somehow contingent on my input?

It’s just all so tiring, this thing of living. So many demands and duties, responsibilities and requirements. If I don’t keep spinning these varied plates, it will all fall apart. The Great Sigh wells up within me. I’m not sure if I want to shout or cry, to run through the wind or curl up in bed.

But the beauty of life’s impermanence—of being thrust into turmoil with no apparent warning or anticipation—is that it is very much a two-sided coin. With as much ease as you were cast one way, a spurious thought can capture your attention and send you soaring back in the other.

This Too Shall Pass. The feeling of control, the feeling of too-muchness, the feeling of it passing, and the feeling of relief.

Know Thyself. That this is how it is to be human. That whatever you are feeling will change, and change, and change.

Sometimes, it all gets a bit much. When it does, do not panic or get angry. Await yourself with open arms, and greet The Great Sigh with compassion.