ARE YOU GR8TFUL FOR LIFE?

If you are not grateful for your life, you might have paradise syndrome.

Most of us tend to have a vision about how our life is and how it should be. However, when these two views are different we feel an urgent need to close the gap and experience satisfaction. This is a type of problem formation as explained in a 1974 study by Watzlawick et al. However, as our mind is geared towards looking for meaning and purpose in everything we do, we can often become disheartened by the realization that there is no purpose to pursue any longer.

Understanding paradise syndrome

Most of us tend to have a vision about how our life is and how it should be. However, when these two views are different and there is a discrepancy, we feel an urgent need to close the gap and experience satisfaction. This is a type of problem formation as explained in a 1974 study by Watzlawick et al. However, as our mind is geared towards looking for meaning and purpose in everything we do, we can often become disheartened by the realization that there really is no purpose to pursue any longer.

This syndrome mostly occurs when we detach ourselves or take some time off from the “roles we play.” This is a form of leisure sickness as people feel it when they’re supposed to be savoring paradise…but they can’t appreciate the fact that they’re there because they feel like they’ve left themselves behind, which is their identity.

However, leisure sickness or paradise syndrome is a controversial topic among experts as it often gets misdiagnosed as stress and anxiety. But it does exist, It exists for people who are really into ego and who are really into doing and not into being. A lot of us are so caught up in who we think we are that we don’t separate ourselves from the “roles we play” through the week to who we really are on the weekend.