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Illusions in Life

They are not real, no matter how true you believe you feel about them

Mark Chu
5 min readMay 4, 2022
Washington Park, Portland, OR. Photo by author, 2022

There are too many things in our lives that are fake.

But they feel real; so real, like the sharp rocks under your feet. Most likely they’re the things that preoccupy your whole mind. They hold you back from moving on as a car gets stuck in the mud.

I can be happy only if/when…

One big lie that steals our lives is the idea that we can be happy ONLY if or when something happens. The truth is: if you’re not happy right now, you will NOT be happy whatsoever.

I used to think: “If I get my Ph.D. then I can be happy.” I did get my Ph.D., and I was happy — for a few days before going back to my old self. Then I thought: “If I get a tenure-track professor job then I am allowed to be happy.” I did get the job and was happy, but soon other concerns overwhelmed me. I thought I would be having no worries at all if I got tenured; I did get that, but I wasn’t worry-free — far from it. Just a few days ago I was promoted to full professor, I’ve pretty much reached the highest point in my career — and yet I still hate seeing the mirror.

When I was pursuing my wife I thought I would be on the top of the world forever if she said yes. She did say that, but my euphoria was…

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Mark Chu
Mark Chu

Written by Mark Chu

I’m a professor of psychology at a small university in southern New Mexico. I like playing musical instruments, basketball, and writing stories.

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