Life is a Stream, not a Staircase

The Anxiety of the Staircase

There is a meme circulating on the Chinese internet that is as hilarious as it is suffocating. It is a collage of screenshots from various educational videos and advice columns, stacked one on top of the other like a towering monument to anxiety.

If you believe the subtitles, every single year of your existence is a high-wire act where one slip could spell disaster. We are sold a narrative that life is a steep, unforgiving staircase. We are told to climb, breathlessly, from one landing to the next, convinced that if we can just conquer this specific step—the entrance exam, the degree, the job offer, the marriage certificate—we will finally be allowed to rest. We will finally be safe.

But this event-based view of existence is a trap. It turns the human experience into a perpetual state of emergency. When every year is the "most critical," no year is actually lived; it is merely survived. We defer our happiness, effectively holding our breath for decades, waiting for a finish line that keeps moving. The moment you conquer the "critical" nature of high school, the "critical" nature of the job market immediately takes its place.

Life as a Stream

We need to fundamentally shift our metaphor. Life is not a staircase to be climbed, nor a series of gates to be unlocked. Life is a stream.

A staircase is rigid. It is binary—you are either on the step or you have fallen off. It implies that the only direction of value is "up." A stream, however, is fluid. It moves continuously, sometimes rushing through narrow gorges with terrifying speed, and other times meandering lazily through wide valleys.

When we view life as a stream, we accept that the texture of our days will change, but the continuity of our self remains. A "bad" year is not a failed step that prevents you from reaching the next level; it is simply a rougher part of the river. You navigate the rapids, you might get tossed around, but the water keeps flowing. You do not stop existing or progressing just because you didn't get the perfect score or the corner office. The stream finds a way around the rocks.

Finding Happiness in the Flow

The danger of the "critical year" mindset is that it convinces us that our worth is tied to specific, high-stakes events. It creates a fragility in our spirits, where a setback feels like a total system failure. The stream mindset offers resilience. If the path is blocked here, the water flows there. If the current is too strong to swim against, you float until you find a quiet bank.

Happiness, then, is not found in the completion of a milestone. It isn't a trophy waiting at the top of the stairs. Happiness is the awareness of the water itself. It is the ability to enjoy the view while you are floating, regardless of whether the current is fast or slow.

We should reject the panic induced by that collage of screenshots. There is no single "most critical" year because life is not a test to be graded. It is a long, winding, and beautiful drift. Let the current carry you, and remember: you don't have to climb to be happy; you just have to keep flowing.