Sinking Feeling.
What ship makes it feel like you're drowning?
You stay afloat but suddenly not everything is smooth sailing. And it never will be again. Nothing ever gets easier. Once you reach the rougher waters, the sharks begin to circle and the fever sets in. The greatest riddle of all is why anyone bothers. Is it even worth it? The loved one you cherish, the reputation you build, the achievements and careers and families, all so easily stripped away. In a world that bowed to science and threw away the notion of God and religion and all the other easy answers humanity concocted, how can anyone believe in morality? Or, indeed, in love? In anything that cannot be shown and measured in controlled conditions. Show me the empirical data that says you matter. I suppose they gave up asking. But not me. I still pose the important questions. Why am I here? What is my purpose? Why does it matter? I don't have the answers. Perhaps I never will. It may take a smarter man than I, but I've yet to meet one… I wonder if I ever will.
Hardship is the answer, of course.