Do You Ever Yearn?

By Dale on July 5, 2024

I'm driving home from my twice-weekly session of crack and adjust at the chiropractor (I'm still hopeful I will be fixed. Not overly hopeful.) when Rich Terfry, the host of my radio station, introduces a song by first talking about a certain scene in a Seinfeld episode. The scene in question:

Rich felt the song by young Canadian, Leith Ross, called (You) on My Arm was in the same vein. I have had the damn song in my head for two days now and I'm not against Rich's idea. They yearn. They yearn big time.

This got me to thinking. Do I yearn? What do I yearn for? Is yearning a good thing or is it the equivalent of sitting around wishing, pining, for things to happen but feeling like you're not able to do anything about it? Is it deeper than that? I had to turn to the dictionaries on The Google.

Merriam-Webster says:

1 : to long persistently, wistfully, or sadly

yearns to make a difference

2 : to feel tenderness or compassion

Feels like it's missing something.

Oxford says:

verb:

have an intense feeling of longing for something, typically something that one has lost or been separated from.

"she yearned for a glimpse of him"

Similar:

long, pine, crave, desire, want badly, wish, covet, lust, pant, hunger, thirst, ache, itch, hanker after, dream of, yen, etc.

ARCHAIC

be filled with compassion or warm feeling.

"no fellow spirit yearned toward her"

Okay, this feels closer to what I'm thinking, but one more just for the sake of research.

Cambridge says:

to wish very strongly, especially for something that you cannot have or something that is very difficult to have:

Despite his great commercial success he still yearns for critical approval.

K, now we're talking. "Something you cannot have or something that is very difficult to have".

So, is yearning a waste of time? Or can it be a catalyst for action? I guess it depends on what it is you yearn for and what you're willing to do about it.

You can yearn for the life someone else is living and fall lower and lower into despair because you know it is way out of your league. Social Media has been fabulous for making people feel they are not nor have enough.

or,

You can yearn to make your own life better by working towards making it so.

Yearning is not doing. I think we need a mix of both. The desire for something we want can be used as motivation to work towards achieving that which we desire.

Everyone who knows me, knows I yearn to go back to Italy. And I'll not just wish, hanker for, dream of', yearn. I'm going to make that happen. 2025, latest. Mark my words.

But for now? I just yearn for one good night's sleep. Without need for a sleeping pill. Is it too much to yearn for?

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