In high school, I didn’t have to study very hard. Academics and I were synergistically aligned.

College was a completely different story. Starting the second semester.

My first semester as an electrical engineering student was pretty much a repeat of high school. Calculus 1. Physics 1. Chemistry 1. All a breeze: A. A. A.

Then my world turned upside down.

All of a sudden the classes got really hard. Even studying didn’t help much. The material itself was very complicated, and no amount of formulaic memorization made matters more serene.

I was struggling.

Had I all of a sudden gotten dumber? While the college experience definitely affected my lifestyle, it certainly didn’t drop my IQ by any impactful amount.

No, what had happened was that I had grown accustomed to not working hard nor being challenged academically. Classes had always come easy, and I hadn’t developed the mental fortitude required for real scholastic growth.

I had been listening to the arrogant voice in my head that said, “You don’t need to work hard; your innate intelligence will always carry you through.”

Poor guidance indeed.

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Anticipatory anxiety is awful.

And in many cases, the worrying ends up feeling far more uncomfortable than the actual event.

I used to hate speaking in public. In fact, I was terrified.

Whenever I had to give a talk for work – which turned out to be rather often – I would stress over the event for every single day leading up to my talk. I wouldn’t sleep well, lost most of my appetite, and wasn’t a pleasant person to be around.

But what really surprised me was this: no matter how the talk went – even the ones that weren’t so good (there were plenty) – in none of the talks did I ever feel the level of anxiety that I did each day before the talk.

I found myself thinking after each one, “Hmm, that wasn’t so bad.”

And yet, once the next talk was scheduled, I’d begin to feel anxious all over again.

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My first day of kindergarten, I cried and cried after my mom dropped me off. I was so distraught at being separated from her. It was the worst day of my life. I was so unhappy.

At my junior-year high school prom, I asked the girl of my dreams if she’d like to be my date. She said she’d prefer to go with someone else. I was devastated. It was the worst day of my life. I was so unhappy.

I applied to my dream-school, MIT, as an undergrad electrical engineer. The thin envelope in the mailbox confirmed my worst fears. I was not selected. It was the worst day of my life. I was so unhappy.

And so it goes. Life doesn’t conform to our wishes, and we are unhappy.

But is not getting what we want really the source of unhappiness?

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Imagine for a moment that every one of your problems was magically removed.

No lack of money. No health issues.

No drama with your family.

No sense of loneliness.

No problems with your job, boss, or colleagues.

No feelings of depression.

All removed. Just like that.

Do you think your life would be much better?

Perhaps momentarily, but not for very long.

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I was never much into horror movies.

It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy a good plot or being moved by compelling actors. Rather, I avoided horror flicks because I was too scared that I’d be too scared.

So I never watched them – except for one.

The Exorcist.

The movie is based off a book by the same name, which itself is based very closely on an actual exorcism of a 14-year-old boy purportedly a victim of demonic possession.

The combination of a gripping plot, superb acting, and a chilling soundtrack make for one of the scariest films ever made.

Any hopes I may have had about watching additional horror movies ended with my first – and only – viewing of The Exorcist.

The interesting thing about horror movies – particularly those where the main character is possessed by some sort of evil entity – is that by the end of the film, the demon is destroyed. Or at least sufficiently banished such that potential sequels aren’t ruled out.

We leave the theater feeling some sense of relief that the movie is over and perhaps thankful that we don’t have an alien entity about to exit through our abdomen or a head-spinning projectile vomit.

But the truth is, we are all possessed. By the mind.

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