Have you ever noticed how a calm lake responds when a stone is thrown into it? The ripples spread quickly across the surface. The water shakes, circles widen, and for a moment the whole lake appears disturbed. Yet beneath all that movement, the deeper parts remain undisturbed, holding the same stillness they had before the stone ever touched the water.
Human experience is often like that.
On the surface of our lives, there are waves of anxiety, disappointment, fear, confusion, excitement, anger, and sadness. Circumstances touch us and our minds react. A harsh comment unsettles us. A loss shakes us. An uncertain future creates worry. Sometimes the ripples become so intense that we begin to believe the disturbance is all there is to us.
But beneath the surface, there is another depth to our being. A steadier place. A place still anchored in hope, love, courage, and clarity.
And this is not true for a few fortunate people. It is true for all people.
I love the way Sydney Banks expressed it when he said, “Every person is sitting in the middle of mental health, they just don’t know it.” Beneath our temporary storms is a deeper stability that never completely leaves us, even when we lose sight of it.
Unfortunately, many of us have learned to see things upside down.
Without realizing it, we begin to believe that anxiety is who we are. Depression becomes an identity instead of an experience. Unhappiness feels like the final truth about our lives. We smile in public and try to keep ourselves together, yet privately believe that deep down we are broken.
Even imposter syndrome grows from this misunderstanding. A person may be competent, gifted, and deeply loved, yet still carry the feeling that they are a fraud waiting to be exposed. Why? Because they mistake passing feelings of insecurity for the truth of their identity.
It is like putting the cart before the horse.
The anxiety, fear, sadness, and insecurity we experience are often reactions to life touching the surface of our experience. They are waves, not foundations. Beneath them is an incredible wealth of resilience, love, joy, and courage. So much so that no disappointment, rejection, or failure can permanently rob us of them.
So what does this mean for us practically?
It means we can stop building our identity around temporary emotional weather.
A ship at sea may be battered by wind and tides, but once its anchor reaches deep enough, it is no longer completely at the mercy of the waves. In the same way, when our sense of identity sinks beneath the surface and anchors itself in something deeper, we become steadier amid life’s changing conditions.
We may still feel anxious sometimes. We may still grieve, struggle, or feel discouraged. But those experiences no longer define us. They become momentary waves passing across the surface instead of permanent verdicts about who we are.
This understanding also changes how we relate to ourselves and others.
We become less harsh with ourselves. We stop treating every flaw, mistake, or emotional struggle as evidence that something is fundamentally wrong with us. We begin to appreciate our humanity with greater honesty and compassion.
And when we see others struggling, we no longer reduce them to their worst moments either. We recognize that beneath their surface turmoil is the same depth of worth and humanity that exists within us.
In an earlier article, The Fault in Our Stars, I wrote that you are the star, not the fault in the star.
Perhaps that is what we all need to remember.
There is more to you than the ripple.
There is something deeper beneath the surface.
Restpiration 