It is definitely abnormal to think of everything as a world of extremes, but that is definitely how I feel about the world a lot of the time. I know I am not the only one who sees a lot of things as black and white; people tell you things are not all bad or all good, but you know they don’t mean it. It’s just hard not to develop a strong opinion about something and treat it as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

And that is definitely true of oneself too. It is easiest to see your traits as unstoppablely one way, incorrigibly another, because it gives our character a sort of predictability and strength that we like to fall back on. Sometimes, though, things just flip, and there is so much beauty on the other side.

Perfect tension to perfect relaxation. Perfect chaos to perfect harmony. Perfect sound to perfect silence. And the reverse.

Extremes provide us with a stability in life, and we can and should embrace that. But we should acknowledge that the opposite exists, and it is wondrous as well.