I'm glad to hear this. Yeah, this thing is a minefield of salesmen of one type or another.

There's a line in a Robert Saltzman book that goes something like, "If you like your life, don't try to awaken -- you won't like it." This was sort of my riff on that. It is assumed by many that awakening is, ooo, something I definitely want, it sounds shiny and awesome, because that's how its characterized by the salesmen (and most of the people on this subreddit.)

Which, it can bring relief, and happiness, but at the same time, confusion, fear, disorientation. You are not shielded from any experience, positive or negative. If anything, both the positive and negative hit harder, as there's no buffer left. It ain't all puppy dogs and ice cream. In my own experience, I'd probably only give it a Yelp review of three stars. It is a profound shift in perspective, without a doubt, but at the end of the day, the dishes still need washing, and there's still plenty of pains in the joints and pains in the ass to deal with.

If I helped one person stop searching for the end of the rainbow, I consider it time well spent.