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What is the Madness?

The word madness insinuates that something is chaotic. Therefore, to us, “madness” is an exemplary way to describe life. Rarely do things work out the way we imagined they would: nothing in life truly is planned. Madness exists within everything: the way we love, the way we look at ourselves, others and at the activity around us, and even in the way we are wired. But we think madness is beautiful— because we have chosen to find the beauty in the extraordinary. The charm is often hidden or overlooked and it’s up to us to decide to pinpoint the positives of each experience and thing we encounter in life.

Behind the Madness is merely a collection of writings in which we attempt to answer our own questions about life.

Life is multilayered and complex. We feel a need (to the best of our abilities) to examine as many layers of it as we can. You may disagree with what we discover and the way in which we view our experiences. We ask that you vocalize how you feel about what we share. We created this platform because we want to establish a dialogue with others about how madness plays out in all aspects of life.

With that said, we ask you our first question:

In what ways do you see madness play out in the various aspects of your life and how do you respond to it?

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10 Replies to “What is the Madness?”

  1. As a university student I often feel like my life is nothing but madness. There is always so much going on at any given time that I find I sometimes struggle to appreciate it; I forget that it is a blessing within itself to experience the madness, to have access to such opportunities. In the past I think I’ve responded to the madness primarily with anxiety, exhaustion, and a poor attitude. In 2017 I’m hoping to re-frame my outlook to be more positive. I’m curious how you both respond to the madness? Perhaps sharing ideas will help us both.

    1. Thank you for being the first person to open up a discussion on our blog! Yes, we agree that being constantly pulled into different directions can make it difficult for us to take a moment and appreciate the opportunities we are presented. There are times when we find ourselves looking at the madness negatively and we have to remind each other how lucky we are to be where we are. It truly helps to have a friend who is brave enough to give you a reality check when you let the madness of life control you. It’s important to remember that you have the ability to control the madness. We suggest taking a moment each day to write down a list of at least 3 things you are grateful for. This method of responding to the madness is also a humble reminder of the good things in your life.

    2. Hi Katelyn,
      These are very deep and heartfelt messages, and I appreciate them very much. I was a national team member in the 90s and a gymnast for the University of Utah from 98-2003 and have watched your career evolve from elite to now collegiate.
      It is challenging to open to the madness and craziness of this human life. I think it can be scary given all of the unknowns. I also feel that as gymnasts we were encouraged to control everything from our bodies to our emotions to our thoughts, and the truth is we don’t always have the control we wish we had.
      I like how you refer to madness as a positive thing, too. I definitely feel that in those moments where we’re able to open to the uncertainties and trust the flow of life, therein lies freedom and limitless potential. It’s certainly something to aspire towards. Thank you for your post and best of luck this season.

  2. I love your choice of the word Madness and how you choose to use it. Chaos doesn’t have to mean something bad. Madness doesn’t have to refer to something that enrages us. My overall life motto is “Life is about Choice”. I’m intrigued and inspired by how you have chosen to label the chaos in your life as “extraordinary” and how you choose to “find the beauty in the extraordinary”. It’s interesting how one can totally change her life experience by simply relabeling a word that has a negative connotation. I look forward to your next post.

    1. Thank you for your kind message. We chose to use words such as “madness” and “chaos” because it seems as though the majority view these adjectives in a negative light. There are numerous interpretations of these words and we have been able to find many ways to view madness as something positive. Even if a multitude people think a certain way, that does not mean it is the only way of thinking. After all, WE are the ones who place significance on things. Words are human-made creations and language is constantly evolving. Words are given various definitions and carry diverse connotations as time passes.
      We hope you enjoy our following posts!

  3. English isn’t my first language, so please excuse any mistakes.

    See the madness in my life when something unexpected happens, example: “How did this happen, why did it happen?”, even though I planned that hardly happens as expected, having an end good or bad. He ends up generating mistrust and anxiety, to some, is fear. “But what’s so interesting about the fears that they will be irrelevant with time? BUT THE TRUTH HURTS SOMETIMES. But when it comes to my life, I don’t go out running of madness, but I try to stay away from her and make things happen the right way, what would be the way I want, but that doesn’t happen, the solution is to let go, not disorganized, say, there is only one helper to adjust things when can derail.

    Does that make sense?

    1. Thank you for commenting on our blog! Are you referring to madness as a he/she or a person? But, yes fear is a temporary feeling that can sometimes be overcome. As for the truth hurting, we would have to agree, but the truth helps us put things into perspective and gets us out of our heads, which is hard to see at times. Pondering on scenarios that we find ideal after they didn’t go the way we wanted does not help us accept the things that we cannot change. We must derail and learn to move forward and learn from these things.

      1. I refer to the madness as an emotion and feeling, not as a person. Curiosity: in my country, Brazil, the madness that is our life is much celebrated, without caring about what’s really going on, use the thought of always look on the bright side of everything.

  4. There was this one time when I went to France for the summer to be an au pair and ended up teaching business English to adults in Germany for four years. The au pair thing didn’t work out, but that opened up a door to go to Muenster, Germany, which is actually where I wanted to be all along, and now it’s forever my second home. I guess the lesson is to embrace the madness and roll with it because you don’t know where you could end up. It also helps if your high school friend’s super sweet great aunt and uncle in Paris are willing to take you into their home for three weeks while you’re busy embracing the madness so you don’t run out of money 😉 #embracethemadness #seriouslygratefulforParisianrelatives

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